Dan Gutstein: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Fox Who Loves Me + Other Developments in the Faunal and Floral Kingdoms

 

1. Deep, deep in the shrubberies: behold the beaver. Being human and smart-alecky, one ponders the paddle. We’re told that the paddle is for dam building, but that can’t be all. The beaver, for example, knows love. What doeth the paddle during the love-making of the beaver? People paddle each other, although the paddle is not—organically—attached to them. You might think “furry, cute little critter” but I think not. I see a varmint that can chew through a tree. Knowing not what might aggravate the beaver, I keep moving along.

2. This massive heron floats down to earth. It is equal parts dinosaur, goose, and 747. A comedian. Slender and plump. Where are the myths about this fine specimen? How come no Leda and the Great Blue? It is a stoic. Perhaps it thinks me a stoic, as well. The two of us, trudging along in the miserable murk that defines our lives. Me ‘n’ the heron, we complaineth not.

3. Thank you for inquiring about the Early Girl tomato plant. Given the absence of bees on the balcony, Dear Reader, I hand-pollinated every single flower. Lo, the plant begat many dozen tomatoes! We had a terrific affair. As for the fruits themselves, well, they were quite tasty, as it works out. This bit of gardening provided me with an essential activity as my skeleton reeled from an injury.

4. During my convalescence from said injury (which continues at present) I watched some reruns of Law & Order. I would like to say that Claire Kincaid, played by Jill Hennessey, is my favorite character. Dunno how the show continued on without her.

5. I got bitten! Not only that, but the venom (of whatever bit me) tried to slay me. But I endured.

6. Given the seriousness of the injury, I hadn’t seen my BFF from the faunal kingdom in several months. But one day, as part of my rehabilitation walk, I thought I saw the little ears sticking up, out of the sand trap. So I says, “Hey mate,” in my silly Australian accent. “Hey mate, you’re a good-looking fox.” This is how all the animals in my orbit know it’s me. The silly accent. She sits bolt upright, curling the big brush of the tail behind her. I think she even whined a little bit. That really broke me up!

7. The fox, stirring.

8. The fox, running. She looks hale and hearty. She’s a good-looking fox, mate.

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   Dan Gutstein’s most recent collection of writing is Metacarpalism (poetry, Unsolicited Press, 2022). His poems and stories have appeared in more than a hundred journals and anthologies, including Ploughshares, American Scholar, The Iowa Review, Best American Poetry, and The Penguin Book of the Sonnet. He is also co-director of documentary project Li’l Liza Jane: The Story of America Through the History of a Song and vocalist for NPR-featured punk band Joy on Fire

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                                                    Winslow Homer, The Fox Hunt.

Comments

[Lauris Mason]

You skillfully wove your tomato plants into where the wild things are. Thank you for the very free wheeling free verse.

[Daniel J Mason]

This was a delightful surprise. For me, a new way of rendering a poet by a gifted intellectual poet surrounding you with the pleasures of his existence. Dan, your expressive word tricks were marvelous and then you climaxed with photo references to the text. Dan, creativity is your pal. Can't wait for your next endeavor. Dan Mason

[Mark Isaac]

We value all of these well-placed words and in no way seek to undermine the momentousness of the fox, who is a creature we venerate. Or the heron, a heroine (who eschews heroin). And yet, we wonder if in the future you may make a foray into a depiction of the deer, two of which clashed with their prominent horns in this same environs, and who continuously parade around the World of Leisure with abandon. And as your collection of bites, stings, injuries and maladies continue to mend, perhaps you will continue to advise us about the most prominent and influential developments in and around the course of golf that is frequented by such a wide array of authentic beasts of the semi-wild.

[Bill Nevins]

Midsummer Night Dream, Kykuit*
For Dan Gutstein and for T.C. Boyle, author of “Outside Looking In”

Back-flash 1969 Hudson Valley upstate NY
as the war raged on
when we wan school-mates
dropped a dram
of Owsleys Own Extra Special Bitter,
jumped the Rockefeller Sleepy Hollow fence
and did socio-geographical-psychedelic research
inspired by devolving Catholic theology,
semi-repressed sex drives,
proletarian rage, survivors’ guilt,
and a recent chance- encounter
with drunken Tim Leary in a Lower East Side tavern.

We rode that rattling night-train,
Lonely as dead clowns.
As dawn broke, a wee red fox hopped
in the tall grass where I blithely wandered
like Blake in Elysium.
And she spoke to me!
Kindly!
["oh baby listen now/I've made up my mind/
Yeah, I'm tired of wasting all my precious time/
You got to be all mine, all mine"--jimi, "foxey lady"]
Bill Nevins 1.23.22
*Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate on the Hudson

[dan gutstein]

Thanks Lorraine. I am much obliged.

[dan gutstein]

Thanks Lauris, Daniel, Mark, and Bill -- I am grateful for the comments, suggestions, and ESB poems.