Last week, while I was sitting in the train, waiting to depart, I wondered about what could be a good topic to write about in my next blog. Suddenly I remembered that April is Poetry Month and started thinking about poetry books, authors, and other related topics that might interest you. My thoughts, however, were abruptly interrupted by a person’s loud conversation on her cell phone, and another, and another. Then I decided to combine the two elements that I had in my mind, cell phones and poetry, and here is the result:
Bridal Shower
by George Bilgere
Perhaps, in a distant café,
four or five people are talking
with the four or five people
who are chatting on their cell phones this morning
in my favorite café.
And perhaps someone there,
someone like me, is watching them as they frown,
or smile, or shrug
at their invisible friends or lovers,
jabbing the air for emphasis.
And, like me, he misses the old days,
when talking to yourself
meant you were crazy,
back when being crazy was a big deal,
not just an acronym
or something you could take a pill for.
I liked it
when people who were talking to themselves
might actually have been talking to God
or an angel.
You respected people like that.
You didn't want to kill them,
as I want to kill the woman at the next table
with the little blue light on her ear
who has been telling the emptiness in front of her
about her daughter's bridal shower
in astonishing detail
for the past thirty minutes.
O person like me,
phoneless in your distant café,
I wish we could meet to discuss this,
and perhaps you would help me
murder this woman on her cell phone,
after which we could have a cup of coffee,
maybe a bagel, and talk to each other,
face to face.
Poem reprinted with author’s permission.
Below are some books that would help us get along:
And if you like this poem, here is a book by the same author:
Folk legend Pete Seeger's birhday is Monday, May 3. He and Woody Guthrie travelled America in the 1940s, bolstering labor movements and civil rights protests with song as they blended activism and folk music. In 1942, Seeger joined the Army, where he continued to play and sing, performing for the other soldiers. In 1948, he started a group called The Weavers. In line with Seeger’s political ideals, the group wove a mix of vocals and music with social and political commentary. Unfortunately, by the time the group was becoming popular, the political climate of America had soured. McCarthyism held the country in a firm grasp of fear, and the Weavers were soon banned. Seeger was among the first to write songs questioning the Vietnam war. The Smothers Brothers show shattered the 17-year TV blacklist against Seeger, insisting that he perform "Waist Deep In The Big Muddy," a song inspired by a photo of American soldiers slogging through a river in the Mekong Delta. He stood beside Paul Robeson when he was attacked by the Klan at Peekskill and marched with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery. Five years before Greenpeace was founded, Pete launched his own environmental campaign on the Hudson. To mark the awe-inspiring 91st birthday of Pete, have a sing along, read his biography, listen to a cd by him, green the world, or join a protest. 
