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Thomas Piekarski: California Poets Part 8, Four Poems


Thomas Piekarski
Thomas Piekarski

January 8th, 2025

California Poets: Part VIII

Thomas Piekarski

Four Poems



Manifesto Incognito


Subversion aversion brain drain eloquent                 

Singularity uppermost devotee turned tide               

Feathered dead reject surprising logistics

Trained eye pierced disperses immersive

Patrimony undivulged circular occluded

Eulogized jazz loco motion also atomized

Seize proportionate victory anthem sung

Strange vibrations whisper serpents clang

Factotums slide by reside no place today

Preternatural locust swarm forewarned

Nutritious neutrinos are served a la carte

Paste wax popular icons amethyst purple

Shave time whittle whistle titanic drive Spendthrift adrift favoring a fanged lizard Twist untwist wholly polarized caucuses Frame form hang thieves demote monarchy Like disklike oddly ossified public transit Fulminate against interrogation obliteration Swing harmonious lonely immune parakeet Drop napalm bombs on ravenous sow bugs Riot of sky color brightening ripest daylight Rolling bones overflow undeniable revival Litmus tested antidote compound pending




Cosmologically Speaking

 

As if we were occupying a universe

where life transpires in reverse

dark energy baffles astrophysicists

who while examining scientific data

obtained from the newest telescope

with precise measurements conclude dark energy at times expands space and at others contracts it regardless of those who have believed for long that this cannot be since the universe is only forever stretching and has so since the inception of the Big Bang through billions of years of evolution for which exists no rhyme or reason despite what sociologists and priests would have the greater population believe not taking into consideration

human limitations totally unaware of what’s hidden from we mortals in the multiverse which has during its journey collected acute knowledge that debunks our physics and stuffs it in a box from which no man escapes even if outpacing light across time




The Nightingale’s Plight

 

When your passion departs

in a New York minute

and love loses its meaning

 

When dreams get chewed

and spit onto a window

for the entire world to see

 

When memories but serve

as invitation to oblivion

you sulk like a mangy dog

 

When starvation is nothing

compared to the prospect 

of never embracing again

 

When pleasure disappears

because of your freefall

and life becomes mundane

 

When hopes plunge

through a steel night sky

and all you can do is cry

 

When once steady trust

seems like wet linguini

flung against a black wall

 

When flowers won’t grow

although you plant seeds

water and fertilize well

 

When your rainbows fade

overloaded with dismay

and squandered good will

When out of the blue

truth emerges and thrusts

a dagger into your heart




Reason in Season

 

Here comes the avalanche

wherein ego resides with its

cheer, romance, also demise

when victim of circumstance.

 

Now think big and grow taller

despite overwhelming squalor:

the powerful opposing others,

each following natural orders.


Anthracite, flower, worm, ocean,

catapulted, spun, dangled, wound,

feeling excessive heat and no clue

as to where the world is headed.

 

And anarchy around the globe

with smart missiles launched

that rarely miss their mark,

center of our brooding hearts.

 

Banking on hope lonely folk

retreat to safe positions while

trust in love! is shouted above

the howls of insurrectionists.

 

Happily, history’s vision

persists like golden spikes

driven into sensible minds           

soliciting reason’s advice.



Interview


March 24th, 2025

California Poets Interview Series:

Thomas Piekarski, Poet, Editor

interviewed by David Garyan



DG: When did you start writing poetry?


TP: I started writing poetry in college. I was interested in all the arts, and took a poetry class. I was introduced to many poets and learned much about the craft. I fell in love with Hopkins and Keats in particular. By the time I graduated my lifetime ambition was to be a poet.


DG: Do you still have a strong recollection of the first poem you published?


TP: Yes, my first published poem was about a statue titled “The Thinker” by Rodin. It’s located at the front of the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco.


DG: You’re the former editor of the California State Poetry Quarterly. When did you assume the role and to what extent did it change the way you write, along with the type of poems you read?


TP: I was singled out by the president of the California Poetry Society who felt I was a budding star in the field. That quarterly is the official magazine of the organization. I was in my early twenties. It greatly expanded my knowledge of the art. I began reading numerous literary magazines, hundreds of submissions, and built a sizeable library of books by contemporary poets. I acquired an appreciation for for a wide spectrum of poetry, which broadened my taste considerably.


DG: How close were some of the editorial calls? In other words, did most of the poems you selected seem right from the very beginning, or did you find yourself appreciating some pieces with subsequent readings—i.e., seeing their hidden virtues?


TP: As an editor one receives all sorts of poetry, from the amateur to highly polished. Generally a submission would strike me as either great, good, mediocre, or poor. It wasn’t difficult to distinguish upon first reading. Subsequent readings would narrow the field of selections. The finalists were sent acceptances. Much good poetry had to be regrettably declined.


DG: In addition to poetry, you’ve also done interviews. If you could interview any poet, living or dead, who would it be and why?


TP: I would interview Robert Hass. He is a valued friend, and his poetry has had more influence on me than any other. He remains a major inspiration to me.


DG: Form is an important component of your work, but you’ve also written poems in flush-left stanzas. Do you choose what you’ll do from the very beginning or do things develop during the process of composition?


TP: This is an interesting question. It arises frequently. Generally my writing  follows the same path as it does for most, which is to say one begins writing the poem and the form just emerges as an organic consequence of the subject, a sort of immutable inevitability. Other times I’m very deliberate in selecting a form, and this is not infrequent. I like to challenge myself to write in a wide variety of forms, and am sometimes drawn to those utilized by others.


DG: You’ve written a travel guide called Best Choices In Northern California. Where would you personally take someone visiting for the first time on a week trip?


TP: I would take a visitor on a journey from the Oregon  to the Mexican borders. This would entail the California coast,  giant redwoods, San Francisco, Monterey, Big Sur, the California Riviera, and Southern California coast. If time would permit I would take them to Yosemite. I believe I live in the most beautiful state in the country.


DG: Your theater and restaurant reviews have been published in various newspapers. Are there any out of the ordinary (either good and bad) places you’d like to share?


TP: I took Drama classes in college to round out a Fine Arts minor, was naturally drawn to the theater, so writing reviews was highly enjoyable.  When I wrote restaurant reviews I eschewed chains and concentrated on independent ones. Insofar as bad places, I would say staying away from chains would be my recommendation. I find most of them uninteresting or mediocre.


DG: Have you become less prolific over the years, or have your writing habits stayed more or less consistent?


TP: Poetry is my lifeblood, my calling. I’ve had periods of hiatus, but for the most part write on a consistent basis.


DG: What are you reading or working on these days?


TP: I’ve recently completed my reading of the trilogy, the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Aeneid. I believe they stand as the greatest poems ever written, highly recommended to all poets. There are times that I’m working on longer poems, but for the most part themes emerge randomly and spontaneously, and the poems seem to emerge from the ether.



Author Bio:

Thomas Piekarski is a former editor of the California State Poetry Quarterly. His poetry has appeared in such publications as The Journal, Poetry Salzburg, Modern Literature, The Museum of Americana, South African Literary Journal, and Home Planet News. His books of poetry are Ballad of Billy the Kid, Monterey Bay Adventures, Mercurial World, Aurora California, and Opus Borealis.

 



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