D. Dina Friedman
When Despair for the World Grows in Me
I’d like to think I’d lie down with bears, confront gun nuts,
but more likely, I’d be climbing a mountain
a bright blue day when the air is crisp as apple skin
and leaves rain their last remnants in the wind.
At night the cat has returned
to sprawl his love against my chest,
no longer needing to splay belly up in the heat.
He purrs like the tree I aspire to be,
its trunk unbothered by strangler figs. Lie down.
Really, there’s nothing in the world that matters more
than skin on skin. Maybe we need to spread the love.
A cat on every chest, like a chicken in every pot.
A gun in every holster. Maybe, we just need to sing
until we reach oblivion—or action? Dynamo? Dynamite?
Die? The sky is as blue as apple pie
is American. Listen. That distant hunter
is downing a deer. I’ve always wanted an antler.
It’s kind of like penis envy, but better,
a secret weapon against despair
growing out of the part of the body that thinks.
And when he talks about thoughts—and prayers,
tell him that people were praying
in all those shuls and mosques, those churches,
and sorry for the blasphemy, but
God didn’t seem to be there, God prefers
to be here in the soul of the deer
and that black mama bear fighting thorns,
gathering the last of the berries before a long sleep.
D. Dina Friedman is the author of the two young adult novels. Escaping Into the Night (Simon and Schuster, 2006) was recognized as a Notable Book for Older Readers by the Association of Jewish Libraries, and a Best Books for Young Adults nominee by the American Library Association. Playing Dad’s Song (FSG, 2006) was recognized as a Bank Street College of Education Best Book. She is also the author of the poetry chapbook Wolf in the Suitcase (Finishing Line Press 2019). Her work has appeared in Calyx, Common Ground Review, Lilith, Wordpeace, Pinyon, Negative Capability, New Plains Review, Steam Ticket, Bloodroot, Inkwell, and Pacific Poetry, among other journals. Friedman holds an MFA from Lesley University. She lives in Hadley, Mass., and teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
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