Summer Solstice Splendid Wake Poetry Pop-Up

THE WORLD SITUATION

by Karren L. Alenier

from The Anima of Paul Bowles

As the wife fed her cat crab-

meat, the cat that attempted

to walk the ceiling but failed,

the husband tackled the decline

of American civilization—barbarians

populated his tales. If a man cried

out, another lopped off his tongue.

In private, she said TV and

McCarthyism killed the invention

of new games. He just ripped

the caterwauling telephone

from the wall.

                         At a dinner party of all

women except for him, when she

was asked to comment on the world

situation, she excused herself, left

what was tasty and steaming

on the table, curled regally

on a divan like a feline, fell

asleep under an open

window.

                  With its slow white

flakes, snow covered her. Horrified

at her absence, weren’t these women

her friends, he shook her awake—

what game is this? She whispered,

Resistance To Doom. I had to

make room for hope.

Karren LaLonde Alenier is author of seven collections of poetry, including Looking for Divine Transportation (The Bunny and the Crocodile Press), winner of the 2002 Towson University Prize for Literature and her latest collection, The Anima of Paul Bowles (MadHat Press), which was selected as top staff pick by the Grolier Bookshop (Boston) for 2016. Her poetry and fiction have been published in such magazines as: Mississippi Review, Jewish Currents, and Poet Lore. Gertrude Stein Invents a Jump Early On, her jazz opera with composer William Banfield and Encompass New Opera Theatre artistic director Nancy Rhodes premiered at New York City’s Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia in June 2005. More information at Alenier.blogspot.com.