TWO POEMS

JACK FOLEY

 

MASK

the river is wearing a mask

the trees are wearing masks

the grass has a special separate mask

for each blade

the birds are wearing masks

(look at the cedar waxwings)

houses are wearing masks

there are masks on all the sidewalks

the traffic lights are masked

there are masks on the statues in the cathedral

and on those in the museum

there is a mask over my heart

when I tell you I love you

(but you recognize me)

the streets are wearing masks

(you can hardly make out Brookdale)

all the animals are wearing masks

(look at the bears)

the fish too are masked

as they make their way in the deep

which is also masked

the lone ranger has put a mask on his mask

tonto has been checked for Covid-19

women are wearing masks

their skirts are wearing masks

I see masks on the knees that show

beneath their skirts

I see masks on the snow

covered hills

masks are wearing masks

masquerades are wearing masks

mascara is wearing a mask mask

the knife initially refused

wishing not be regarded as a

common thief

but has finally relented and worn one

and I, as I sit on the rubble of history,

a lone ant on an anthill,

have placed a mask on my book, on my pen,

on my keyboard

on my computer screen

a mask on my fingers

a mask on my tongue

a mask on my eyes

a mask on my breath

a mask on whatever I have of life

THE BONES OF HISTORY

You try to keep it together

but it gets old and

falls apart.

What was once

in some kind of order

becomes chaos.

You turn your eye away.

Is this what it means

to age?

The world itself

and your country

with a manic, maniac president

at the helm

seems infinitely chaotic

beyond the reach

of even the fiction

of reason.

Was it time

that did this

or constant lack

of attention?

Disease

increases.

Fear

turns to anger

and anger

is everywhere.

These are the bones

of history

not its fruit.

Two thousand years

and we are nowhere.

Full of false creeds

and the disappointment

of friends.

JACK FOLEY has published 16 books of poetry, 5 books of criticism, a book of stories, and a 1,300-page “chronoencyclopedia,” Visions & Affiliations: California Poetry 1940–2005. He became well known through his multi-voiced performances with his late wife, Adelle, also a poet. He currently performs with his new life partner, Sangye Land. He has presented poetry on radio station KPFA since 1988 and has received two Lifetime Achievement Awards. A new book of Foley’s poetry, When Sleep Comes: Shillelagh Songs, has just appeared; and Dana Gioia and Peter Whitfield have edited Jack Foley’s Unmanageable Masterpiece—a book about Foley’s book Visions & Affiliations.