Michael Homolka
Upper West Side on a Saturday
So I’m also an essence great Some tell me
nothing’s held back that spirituality
just sits there right in front of us identical
to the layout of objects in public places
A bag pops in the street The addictive
quality of birds I can’t name triangulating
from tree to tree bears down on me
and the moment of disturbance billows out
Every bone pink and transcendent
in the eternally 22-year-old bodies
of infomercial apologists and corporate indulgence guys
likewise contains those few horse-fallen
moments after and truth from which
no prophet ever turns So it’s no surprise
when I check out Equinox for free stuff
early on a Saturday to find myself
standing there beside Saint Francis
clothes in a bundle and purse full of coins
and neither of us inclined to speak
What he finds beautiful I’m not
quite ready for nor his unadorned irritation
at the concept of ‘multi-level paradise’
hot pink as valid as gold promotional elect
rehashing their endless mauves
Michael Homolka’s collection, Antiquity, won the 2015 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry from Sarabande Books. His poems have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, Boulevard, Antioch Review, Agni, and Poetry Daily. A graduate of Bennington College’s MFA program, He currently teaches gifted first-generation high school students in New York City.
Return to March 2017 Edition
So I’m also an essence great Some tell me
nothing’s held back that spirituality
just sits there right in front of us identical
to the layout of objects in public places
A bag pops in the street The addictive
quality of birds I can’t name triangulating
from tree to tree bears down on me
and the moment of disturbance billows out
Every bone pink and transcendent
in the eternally 22-year-old bodies
of infomercial apologists and corporate indulgence guys
likewise contains those few horse-fallen
moments after and truth from which
no prophet ever turns So it’s no surprise
when I check out Equinox for free stuff
early on a Saturday to find myself
standing there beside Saint Francis
clothes in a bundle and purse full of coins
and neither of us inclined to speak
What he finds beautiful I’m not
quite ready for nor his unadorned irritation
at the concept of ‘multi-level paradise’
hot pink as valid as gold promotional elect
rehashing their endless mauves
Michael Homolka’s collection, Antiquity, won the 2015 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry from Sarabande Books. His poems have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, Boulevard, Antioch Review, Agni, and Poetry Daily. A graduate of Bennington College’s MFA program, He currently teaches gifted first-generation high school students in New York City.
Return to March 2017 Edition