Jerry Garcia is a poet, photographer and filmmaker from Los Angeles, California. He was chosen to participate in the Newer Poets XI Series at the L.A. Central Library by the L.A. Poetry Festival.
Jerry’s poetry and photography have been published in a range of journals and anthologies including: Chiron Review, Askew, Palabra Magazine, KCET’s Departures: Poetry L.A. Style, poeticdiversity, The Night Goes On All Night: Noir Inspired Poems and Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond. His chapbook Hitchhiking With the Guilty is available at www.gratefulnotdead.com along with poems, photographs and broadsides.
*****
Building a Nation Pantoum
A new nation does not write poetry;
it establishes borders.
A new nation does not create opera;
it builds an army.
A new nation establishes borders.
Pondering preservation,
it builds an army
and mines resources.
Pondering preservation,
a new nation creates orders of law
and mines resources
while birthing children.
A new nation creates orders of law.
It builds bridges and levees
while birthing children
and planning for disaster.
A new nation builds bridges and levees.
It bargains for business
and plans for disaster.
It alphabetizes, counts, and stockpiles.
Bargaining for business,
a new nation does not create opera.
It alphabetizes, counts, and stockpiles.
A new nation does not write poetry.
***
While Walking the Dog
Last Evening
I saw a falling star,
its tail so long,
its head so black,
surely it must rest this morning
in a neighbor’s backyard,
blackened rock, warm to the touch,
conspicuous on a thick bed
of blue grass.
If it struck like the truth
it could be the famous Boson
and if it had not been honest,
the prayers of many
would nod as they hold on to tomorrow
and the rest of us scramble
to keep the day intact.
Sometimes, what is visible in the black,
like reflected branches
and multi-galaxies of matter,
would support belief in substance,
while to others
the flickering sky expresses
the Divine.
