Rick Bursky, “The Mandolin”

This was the night police chased the musicians from the roof.
Yes, the building was abandoned, waiting for the steel ball
to swing from a chain and smash walls.
But the old women across the street couldn’t sleep.
This was the night someone hid a mandolin in a garbage can,
just below a filthy sweater, as if they expected someone
to lift the lid and look. This was the night
the pay phone on the corner continued to ring.
The night the sky reminaed dark longer than it had a right to.
And the dust that would rise into that sky, just waiting.

Death Obscura is the second full-length collection of poems by Rick Bursky. It also includes “The Separation” and “The Aerodynamics” (published in AGNI). You’ll find links to several more poems at Bursky’s website.

9 April 2011 | poetry |