In "Stay Thirsty," Ten New Daily Poems [by David Lehman]

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Stay Thirsty Magazine is honored to present the following ten, never-before-published, original poems by David Lehman and to continue our special relationship with him that began with a Conversation in the Fall 2014 edition of our magazine.

From my work-in-progress, which will reflect my practice of writing a poem every day since August 1, 2020.                                             -- David Lehman on the following ten poems.

Mudcat
(June 12, 2021)

Mudcat Grant died today
possessor of one of the great baseball monikers
victor in game six of the 1965 World Series
the year Koufax refused to pitch game one
because Yom Kippur fell on that day
and did more for Judaism with that one gesture than
even Harry Belafonte singing Hava Negilla,
but I stray from the point,
the passing of Jim “Mudcat” Grant
who won twenty games that season,
and even though he pitched for the opposition
I couldn’t help admiring him
on the mound on the day before
Koufax shut out the Twins on two days’ rest

The Master of Gamblers (II)
(June 23, 2021)

You begin with a title,
“The Master of Gamblers”
by Caravaggio,
and you run with the idea,
the words, not the painting:
a school for gamblers
with majors in casino science
(roulette, poker, blackjack)
and track management,
the stock market,
and the aesthetics
of athletics (the next big thing)
with required readings
in Pascal, Baudelaire,
Dostoyevsky and
mandatory viewings
of Guys and Dolls
and The Cincinnati Kid.

The French Revolution
(July 15, 2021)

The French Revolution
still leads the league
with the Russian Revolution
a distant second
and the gap is widening
as the Jacobins stage an uprising
while the Russians renounce the Soviet idea
(except for the KGB)
and we wonder: can we expect
dictators along the lines of Napoleon before long,
and what about Metternich and the Congress of Vienna?

For the other seven poems, all from Summer 2021, click here for the rest of the feature in Stay Thirsty.

In the same issue you will find a q-and-a with Robert Olen Butler, Jerome Charyn on "The Golden Age of Hollywood," April Gornik on her paintings, and much else. https://staythirstymagazine.blogspot.com/

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Comments

[april havoc]

Prof that anything can end up in a poem.

[Terence Winch]

Classic NY School/Lehman poems.

[Joanne Dominique Dwyer]

Lehman's poems appear as daily poetic windows aiming light into highly observed thought, musings, playful exchanges with names, monikers, history, culture and language itself. But within these windows, seen from either side of the window, and depending on the angle of light or darkness refracting from these windows, such stunning and ruptured poignancy both disturbs and enlightens.

[april havoc]

What I meant was according to Mallarme: "Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book.”