I’m taking a bit of a break from my second Lending Times article, and you get a poem. Prior to settling on the title pulse for the poetry chapbook I published, the collection went under the title Thoughts from Seldom Seen. That’s the nickname of the hill I grew up on.
The list of poems in that incarnation was about twice as long as what ended up going in pulse. Needless to say, the ones that got cut weren’t as good as the ones that stayed. I’ve been through the original manuscript a couple of times recently, looking for things that might be worth publishing here. Most of the older pieces I’ve published have been from pulse, but some of them were, for some reason, decided against for the publication. “Lumberjack” is one I recall not being in there–and I can’t think for the life of me why that was. “Indeed” didn’t make the cut, but that was more of a subject matter type of thing.
Here’s another that didn’t. I didn’t think I thought much of this piece. In fact, I’ve passed over it two or three times recently in my searches, not even a thought to giving it a look. Now that I have, I’m not too displeased with it. That might be because of how pleased I am that I don’t have these struggles anymore.
Love from the hill.
***
The Three of Us
Born under the sign of Gemini, I
Never lent much thought
To what astrology had in store.
Nor do I now; yet, I note the presence
Of the twins in my life:
Castor inhabits this head today, keeping appointments
And bent to the pages of reading and writing
Left by Pollux as he shook his week-end ass.
Castor, who loves the life of the focussed home-body,
And Pollux, who loves the public
Where he can take all the credit for the work.
Castor, who does it,
And Pollux, who talks about doing it.
Castor, the humble intriovert,
Pollux, the self-absorbed extrovert,
And me, the soul of a man
Torn between two
In whom he doesn’t believe.
5 March 2001—English 399
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