In Swansea
Slag heaps on the outskirts,
cranes busy on the docks,
and in front of The Lord Nelson,
a man with crutches
and a grubby cast on his leg
suggests I come with him
and have a drink. Why not
enjoy your life, he says.
Several others loitering there,
emboldened, call out ruder invitations,
though I’m just a traveling person
of fairly decent appearance,
minding my own business on the high street
while buildings rise from the bomb-sites.
Dead Dog
When Don Carmelo’s favorite dog,
a fierce black mongrel,
lay down in the stable courtyard
for the last time, Don Carmelo
spent the day as usual, sitting
outside on a chair he had dragged
from the kitchen, drinking grappa,
spitting in the dust
and cursing his sons-in-law.
The carcass stiffened. Flies gathered
and hummed upon Don Carmelo’s
favorite dog, who’d grown too old
for guarding or herding and was just
a useless mouth that whined to be fed.
Only the donkey in his stall
acted as though something was wrong,
stamping in alarm at the sight of his friend
and braying his loud wakening bray.
Ruth Holzer is the author of eight chapbooks, most recently Home and Away (dancing girl press), Living in Laconia (Gyroscope Press), and Among the Missing (Kelsay Books). Her poems have appeared in Southern Poetry Review, Blue Unicorn, Slant, and Freshwater, among other journals and anthologies. She has received several Pushcart Prize nominations.
Sparks of Calliope 