Rooms of Symbols by Janice I. Buck

Featured Writer: Janice I. Buck

Rooms of Symbols

It's time to cut a tree,
trim its less appealing side,
shake off all the broken blades,
stand it in the living room,
even though it wants to lean.
Lay the bulbs on branches
seeming staunch enough
to weather weight of memory.
Ornaments of dusty glitter
clamoring to build
a sunrise of the cold.
Autumn mulch is shrinking
under layers of frost,
the earth a pool
of sludge and whiskey
sitting in a dirty glass.
I count on you,
your paper doves with gilded wings
and jade but still unjaded eggs--
like recipes for cookie dough
to decorate the lingering.
I count on you as pendulums
to find the rhythm of the dance.
To sense the good
that still remains between
the sour slats and rinds.
Somewhere else, in Israel,
a fire breaks, according
to the headline news.
20,000 homeless stand
in soup lines waiting
for scraps of rice
and brothy breaths
of volunteers to kiss them
on mosaic cheeks
streaming with their soot and tears.
20,000 homeless stand
in hope of nails and miracles--
to build them temporary shacks
while I am cutting Christmas fudge.

Angles

At six, I watch my father shave--
looking at white from the low angle
of innocence. Blades are sharp.
Skin is taut, covered in the cloth of snow.
Everything he is--is big.
Everything I am is small.
In middle years, flesh grows stubble
just like roads seasons have
traversed and stretched.
Still he has such steady fingers
no one ever challenges.
The later years are coming now.
His body is at war with age.
And so is mine.
Silver thimbles of our heads
cannot defy the needle's point.
Have I been taking pictures
now for centuries of seemingness
with plastic caps and shutters closed?
Assuming suns are scorch-less things--
moons not handled by a man,
but regal pages, royal dream.

Flat Tires

We had that sort of day.
Where suffering's ambivalence
plays ghost and boost.
Acts like nitrous,
coke, testosterone
for pumping heart
to revel in the simple thump.
One toe won't move
so it whispers in the others'
ears, reminding, rubbing
faces in that luckiness.
We had that sort of day.
Where one arm aches
and tells the other
just how great a simple reach
to grab of box
of bouillon cubes
can be in grander schemes
of action pawing
at the closing gate.
We had that sort of day.
Where stand is a humble tilt.
And eyes see pictures
on the wall of aging's
fraught menagerie.
We had that sort of day.
Where sirens of the pounding rain
are not a racing ambulance.
We had that sort of day.
Where sunlight came
with flattened tires.
We had that sort of day.
Where human kisses
cheek of God
even though his lips
are bruised.

Janice I. Buck, Ph.D. is the author of four collections of poetry. Her work has appeared in CrossConnect, Zang Spur Review, Pif Magazine, The Dakota House Journal, The Melic Review, Stirring, Countless Horizons, Ascent, Tapestry, The Rose & Thorn, Avatar Review, pith, Perihelion, In Motion, OffCourse, and hundreds of journals world-wide. In the year 2000, Janet was of ten U.S. poets to be featured at the "One Heart, One World" Exhibit at the United Nations Exhibit Hall in New York City. Her poem "Acrylic Thighs" was translated into five languages and paired with original artwork. The tour traveled to France, Australia, Vietnam, Brazil, and Japan. In 2001-2002, Buck's poetry is scheduled to appear in PoetryBay, The Montserrat Review, Runes, The Pedestal Magazine, Concrete Wolf, The Carriage House Review, Swagazine, PoetryRepairShop, Slow Trains, Verse Libre Quarterly, Wicked Alice, Facets, Southern Ocean Review, Artemis, The American Muse, and The Pittsburgh Quarterly. Recent awards include The H.G. Wells Award for Literary Excellence, First Place in Kimera's Poetry Contest 2001, Editor's Choice Award for Sol Magazine, and the 2001 Kota Press Anthology Prize. In 2001, Janet's poem "The Teapoy" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by The Pedestal Magazine. Janet Buck is a three-time Pushcart Nominee and the author of four collections of poetry. Her work has recently appeared in Three Candles, Red River, Pierian Springs, Stirring, PoetryBay, Offcourse, Ascent, The American Muse, and hundreds of journals world-wide. In 2002-2003 Buck's poetry is scheduled to appear in Zuzu's Petals Quarterly, Mississippi Review, Gin Bender, Artemis, The Montserrat Review, Recursive Angel, The Foliate Oak, Southern Ocean Review, The Pedestal Magazine, Coelacanth, Cordite, CrossConnect, and The Oklahoma Review.

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