Thomas Piekarski: California Poets Part 8, Four Poems
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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