The Gorko Gazette

THE PAST

What is the point
of the past?
What do we
need it for?

Mine has gone
by too fast
for questions
and answers.

Let life begin
now, this overcast
morning, in
this dreary room,

second from last
on the right,
down the hall,
by the lavatory.

Let all begin
now, full-blast
at forty years
eight months

and counting.
Let the eyes now
be rubbed open
to the vast

beauty of the world,
the ears unstopped
to its music,
slow and fast.

Let the tongue now
loose unspellable
syllables, held fast
at the door of speech.

And then, after
this four-hour
childhood is past,
let now be you,

you with your
twenty years
of me, both come
to this place at last.

---

THE DEVIL’S VILLANELLE

I hear you want to write a villanelle.
Listen up. Look right here. I’ll show you how.
Just follow this form through. (Or go to hell.)

Sit down. Turn on the lamp. Get comfortable.
Get paper out. And pen. All ready? Wow!
Okay. Let’s write the perfect villanelle.

You’re lacking confidence, I see. Well, well.
My method’s guaranteed. Sure fire. Just vow
To follow this form through. (Or go to hell.)

No strings attached. I trade. I never sell.
I’m here to help. No need to start a row.
Scratch here to write the perfect villanelle.

Your soul? Zero. Nada. Zilch. Can’t you tell?
Quick. Beads of sweat are breaking on your brow.
Quick. Follow this form through. (Or go to hell.)

Where ya going? Giving up so soon? Swell!@#%&*
Hey, you called me, you know. Don’t have a cow!
Then don’t. Don’t write the perfect villanelle.
Just follow this fork, you, and go to hell.

---

OLD FRIENDS

My friend Jeff called.
“Bonnie will be away
for a week to stay with
the grandkids. I’m going
to see three of my friends,
Parkinson’s in New Jersey,
dementia in Connecticut,
the other dementia, you
know him, Alzheimer’s,
in Brooklyn,” he said.
He didn’t say the names
of the three friends. He
knows that I know that
the old get the names of
what we finally become.

---

MADONNA AND CHILD

Many are for sale
at the Pilgrimage,

but the best by far
is she who is

the spitting image
of Gina Lollobrigida

with the baby Jesus
who takes after her.

---

ABOUT THE ARTIST

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Image: ‘September’ by Elias Holl