Brian Clements Presents a Poem by Milton Kessler

Comma of God

 

I am nothing compared to the Medicaid sneer

I am nothing compared to the owner of the door

I am nothing compared to the elevator of Heidegger

I am nothing compared to the spokes of Vincent’s Belgian sunflower

I am nothing compared to Rodin’s least mistress

I am nothing compared to the frames of Hamlet

I am nothing compared to a critic or chauffeur

I am nothing compared to my old fire engine

I am nothing compared to the breasts I see

I am nothing compared to a tree in any season

I am nothing compared to the escalator of Duchamp

I am nothing compared to Marinetti’s future

I am nothing to compare with Turner’s clouds

I am nothing to compare with the lens of Claude

I am nothing to compare with my mother in 1930

I am nothing to compare with the cockroach in the drain

I am nothing to compare with the jew-hater’s snot

I am nothing compared to the beak or the bill

I am nothing compared to the past or the present

I am nothing to compare with any suit on the rack

I am nothing to compare to a loaf or a child

I am nothing to compare with any syllable of Homer

I am nothing to compare with the foot of a chair

I am nothing to compare with the truth of your anger

I am nothing compared with what I failed to do

I am nothing compared with one note of Lester Young

I am nothing compared to the images of Vietnam

I am nothing compared to the furnace of Dresden

I am nothing compared to the last drops of snow

I am nothing compared to a bicycle with wings

I am nothing compared to the comma of God

_____

 

Milton Kessler taught for many years at Binghamton University (known as Harpur College when Milt was first hired) and co-founded the Creative Writing Program there with John Gardner and others. Milt was the beloved instructor of Camille Paglia, Molly Peacock, and many, many other poets and writers (including yours truly). Earlier in life, Milt had been a boxer, an opera performer, and an optician (a vocation that had a direct impact on his poetics). His book Sailing too Far appeared from Harper & Rowe in 1973, then Milt, much like Jack Gilbert, took a sabbatical from book publication until The Grand Concourse appeared from MSS Press in 1990. Milt passed away in 2000. “Comma of God” appeared in Best American Poetry 2007 posthumously.