Howie Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the author of five poetry chapbooks, Death of the Frog Prince (2004), Heartland (2007), and Apocalypse Mambo (forthcoming) from FootHills Publishing, Strangers & Angels (2007) from Scintillating Publications, and the e-book, Police & Questions (forthcoming), from Right Hand Pointing.
Fall 2008
Table of Contents - Vol. IV, No. 3
Poetry Translations Fiction Essays
Howie Good
The world of tomorrow is even farther away
than we thought and the mottled greenish purple
of an old bruise. It doesn’t help to shut my eyes:
I can still hear gas hissing from shower heads,
still feel the sun like a leprous hand on my back.
I had promised myself a day-off today,
but the ceiling cameras will remember whether
I just remained standing here or moved.
And what if it’s true that the songs of birds
are released again when wood from the trees
in which they sang is burned? Friends,
let’s gather all the fallen branches for a fire.
© Howie Good
