"Poems of Robert Frost" [by Mitch Sisskind]

 

I went to the doctor for my

Annual checkup and he said,

'You've got cancer of the nose.'

Of course I was very surprised

But he added, 'You don't have to

'Do anything right today except

'With enough time you won't

'Have a nose.' I then inquired,

'What is the alternative, doc?'

And he replied Mohs surgery

About which I was clueless

But did not like the sound of it

One bit so I took the road

Less traveled you might say.

 

                *

Okay, stopping by woods on

A snowy evening. I don't know

About woods but growing up

In Chicago I was familiar with

Snowy evenings. One night

It snowed so hard that they

Called off school and we kids

Went sledding at Devil's Hill

All the next day and then

As the dusk began to fall

About four o'clock the snow

Resumed so even if it was

Not strictly speaking woods

It was a snowy evening.

 

                *

What about the poem 'Sand Dunes'

By Robert Frost? He describes how

A town doesn't get inundated by

Ocean waves but it does succumb

To sand dunes which he says are

Brown and dry. I believe this refers

To how you can get muddle-headed

In your old age even if you survive

The earlier years of your life because

It's like your brain gets clogged up

With sand. Also you will be buried

In the earth (sand) unless you want

To be cremated which reminds me

Of 'Fire and Ice' by Robert Frost.

Comments

[Michael Foldes]

Frost settles on the morning. Thank you, Mitch, for a bit of clarity.

[David Lehman]

Clarity -- and richness of humor.

[Summer Brenner]

Count on Mitch Sisskind for true wit.

[Dave Read]

Let's see if this barnacle can be scraped off Frost as easily as the one poetry professor Lehman put on him Saturday? Poets are makers, which does not extend to making a living - or getting a pat on the head, by recycling the work of poets.

[Bruno Anthony]

Dave Read, your ire is irrepressible but lacks charm.