Sticks & Stones

Bare Bones

Poetry Beyond Politics

by

Norbert Blei

The beauty and brevity of a poem (a very small poem) to capture the moment, distill the essence of the thing/feeling observed, is certainly evident in these three lines (each a poem in itself) by Ed Markowski.

Putting aside the political/historical incident which precipitated this poetic response (which will not be mentioned or reviewed in this instance) we are only given, or merely left with three lines of poetry, which might also be read as a single poem of three lines—more genius, with only one word in the title ‘candidates’ suggesting a political reference.

Ten years from now, how will these three single-lined poems, or single poem, be read? Interpreted?

Or consider the poet, sometime in the future, deciding to include this in a book or a volume of his selected poems and, looking at everything again from that vantage point of time, decides to drop the title entirely.

election news a woman spits up sticks & stones

sharpening the darkness of her smile a poet

the color of a crow on the clothesline is perfect

–ed markowski

Concerning ‘politics and poetry’ one last time…I prodded the poet ‘just a little’ and received this response:

they’re separate poems, but they also form a “whole.” my intention was to create… a minimalist trilogy that read like a bare bones version of hunter thompson’s fear & loathing on the campaign trail. no name for the form. suppose it could be called minimalist linear free verse…–e.m.