Bruce Bennett

October 7, 2022

“Like That” by Bruce BennettPosted by

Bruce Bennett

LIKE THAT

British scientist visiting Atlanta suburb killed
by stray bullet while lying in bed
—The Washington Post, January 22, 2022

Like that. You’re breathing. Then you’re dead.
No warning. No time to prepare.
A bullet lodges in your head.
 
You might be lying in your bed.
You might be walking anywhere.
Like that. You’re breathing. Then you’re dead.
 
Not me, you think. Not me. Instead
you’ll take precautions. Then it’s there.
A bullet lodges in your head.
 
You did not see that car that sped.
You did not catch that madman’s stare.
Like that. You’re breathing. Then you’re dead.
 
What’s that that fortune teller said
that time you laughed and did not care?
A bullet lodges in your head,
 
Or doesn’t. There’s no time for dread.
You could be sitting in your chair
like now. You’re breathing. Then, you’re dead.
A bullet lodges in your head.
 

—from Rattle #77, Fall 2022

__________

Bruce Bennett: “I was shocked, as every reader would be, by this senseless and random act. But perhaps even more shocking is the realization that such a thing could happen to any of us, at any time. And there is no way really to guard against it. The merciless economy and intensity of the villanelle form helps to drive that fact home.” (web)

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September 27, 2022

“On Viewing Ken Burns’ Documentary ‘The U.S. and the Holocaust'” by Bruce BennettPosted by

Bruce Bennett

ON VIEWING KEN BURNS’ DOCUMENTARY “THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST”

Some made it. Some did not.
You hear their stories here.
It is as if by lot.
Some made it. Some did not.
Who chose which straws they got?
No answer’s ever clear.
Some made it. Some did not.
You hear their stories here.
 
They want their stories told
so no one can forget.
They hold on and they hold.
They want their stories told.
Though they are frail and old,
they are not finished yet.
They want their stories told
so no one can forget.
 
We listen and we think,
How could they be so strong?
How low can countries sink?
Then look around and think,
We too are on the brink.
We may not have too long.
We listen, and we think,
How could they be so strong?
 
We hear their stories here.
Some made it. Some did not.
No answer’s ever clear.
We hear their stories here.
We listen, and we fear
we too may draw their lot.
 
We hear their stories here.
 
Some made it. Some did not.
 

—from Poets Respond
September 27, 2022

__________

Bruce Bennett: “Ken Burns’ powerful new documentary on the Holocaust is also a reminder of where we ourselves may be heading as a country. Can anyone who knows of the recent attacks on libraries and books, for example, not think of those when watching the scenes of book burnings? And there is so much more.” (web)

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January 23, 2022

“Whose Woods These Were” by Bruce BennettPosted by

Bruce Bennett

WHOSE WOODS THESE WERE

“If we could reason with the crows
it might not help us, but who knows?”

Thus Sunnyvale’s embattled Mayor.
They’ve tried all sorts of things, but there

The crows still are, and will remain.
So far, all efforts are in vain.

The sidewalks will stay coated white.
The skies will darken every night

As countless crows fly home to roost.
The citizens must just get used

To living with an alien species.
But it’s not just the noise and feces.

It’s that crows ought to understand
who owns and should control the land.

What makes them think they have a stake
in what they rudely seek to take

That isn’t theirs? Why don’t they flock
to garbage on some other block?

What makes them think they own the bowers
we’ve planted here, that should be ours!

Let them beware. We will resort
to stronger means. We’ll go to Court,

Throw Nature out, with all her minions!

Though they’ve a right to their opinions.

—from Poets Respond
January 23, 2022

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Bruce Bennett: “This story about crows taking over Sunnyvale, California, caught my eye because I live near Auburn, New York, which has been facing this same problem for years. Auburn seems to have tried everything, including a crow hunt at one point, but nothing has worked. Although one doesn’t necessarily root for the crows, it’s not too much of a stretch to see the issue from the crows’—and perhaps Nature’s—point of view. Plus, it hasn’t been bad publicity for Auburn, and it does provide quite a spectacle!” (web)

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August 19, 2019

“Comforts” by Bruce BennettPosted by

Bruce Bennett

COMFORTS

for David Berman, 1934–2017

You used to write about the snow.
How you would sit before a fire
relishing Bach. Distilled desire
attended you. Nowhere to go,

Nothing to do but stroke the cat.
Your comforts were well understood.
Your cat and you are gone for good.
There is small comfort now in that.

I’ve read your poems since you died.
I know the tale they had to tell.
You knew what waited all too well.
That snow is piling up outside.

You knew that soon enough you’d go.
But you rejoiced in Bach, the fire,
the cat. Your poems proclaim desire
attained. Your poems defy the snow.

—from Rattle #64, Summer 2019

__________

Bruce Bennett: “David Berman, who had two poems appear in last winter’s issue of Rattle, was the first reader of my poetry for more than 55 years, and for most of that time I was the first reader of his. We met in Archibald MacLeish’s English S at Harvard in the fall of 1961, when I was a first-year graduate student in English and he was in his second year at Harvard Law School. He passed away in June 2017.” Note: For more on formalist poet David Berman, watch Rattlecast #3.

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