Decorum Decision
‘It’s not a dancing wedding,’
the bride to be uttered,
and it would be awkward sledding
if the cassock fluttered
Due to the priest’s gyration
Under the bemused gaze
of God’s congregation,
which moves they would appraise
Distracted from the solemn rite
joining the blissful pair,
tempted to show in patent sight
their own bustin’ flair
Proper Maintenance
Before the aged toenail cuts to semi-freedom
from black depth of sock, snip that very offender
after no more than thirty days, a preemptive
slice against the keratin that would poke
from within, marring the black or gray
of my lowest fabric with a spot of flesh
a pale signal that it’s closing time
for this length of vestigial tree-climber tool
presumptuous in straining for the sun
beyond the curved leather though perhaps
only akin to the prime move above, atop
the bones against whose stones we wish
to rise up, above
ABOUT THE ARTIST
John Zedolik is an adjunct English professor at Chatham University and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and has published poems in such journals as Abbey, The Bangalore Review (IND), Commonweal, FreeXpresSion (AUS), Orbis (UK), Paperplates (CAN), Poem, Poetry Salzburg Review (AUT), Third Wednesday, Transom, and in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 2019, he published his first full-length collection, entitled Salient Points and Sharp Angles (CW Books), which is available through Amazon, and in 2021 he published another collection, When the Spirit Moves Me (Wipf & Stock), which consists of spiritually-themed poems and is also available through Amazon. In 2023 he published his third collection, Mother Mourning (again, available on Amazon). John’s iPhone is his primary poetry notebook, and he hopes his use of technology to craft this ancient art remains fruitful.
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