Big, Naughty Monkey
—by Mishka Zakharin
Mishka’s third collection of
poetry spans the spectrum of life and learning… at times philosophical, at
times odd, it is an introspective blend of the human experience—and, as always,
Mishka’s unique perspective offers an interesting mix of the opposing
polarities of a somewhat bleak reality, but with an underlying tone of
optimism… or, at any rate, an underlying absurdity….
Poetry BookSurge
Copyright: 2002 ISBN: 1-59109-252-3
Excerpts—
“In Dubious Battle”
My life is a ‘70’s movie
based on a Steinbeck novel;
screenplay by Neil Simon,
music and lyrics by Steven Sondheim:
In the sleepy, golden haze of day’s end,
as the ocean unfolds to caress the rocky shore
and then once again retreats back upon itself,
the great, bespeckled heron
flutters wingingly o’er the barrows
like the lingering looming
of unready castings for the morrow . . .
Someone’s picking cherries,
someone’s getting crabs,
and, of course, there’s the token wino
whose slurred philosophies
and bleary-eyed visions
are lost in a breeze of salty sea spray;
when all is said and done
you know someone will have to die—
but perhaps he will be brought back . . .
and, in any event,
someone’s going to sing about it.
The Monkey Poems: Julius Caesar
Hey, see the monkeys scatter
with their daggers dripping blood—
what’s the matter?
They chirp, hoot, and scream,
excitement arising from the murderous pall;
they swing high in the trees,
in victory never thinking they might fall,
believing their fates are free to roam.
Confusion, fear, and rage—
“Et tu, Brute? Et tu?!”
You’ve built your own cage,
you screwy, pint-sized apes. . . .
Chunks of Sky - #12
The stars fill the dark void above:
Glisten, glister, glitter, glimmer, shimmer, twinkle, blink—
I am mesmerized. . . .
My heart beats to the rhythm of their pulsations—
The sky has taken on a life of its own,
And, for a brief moment, I am a part of its soul;
As my body lies upon the earth,
My spirit soars to the heavens . . .
Luna, my love, comes to dance—
I am intoxicated by her glowing beauty;
The sky is filled with her radiance
As she bares herself to me
In all of her resplendent lasciviousness . . .
I’ve been mooned. . . .
Vodka Gimlet, With a Slice of Lime
From the first moment
I couldn’t get her out of
my mind
so beautiful
and wonderful
and real
(but in a good way)
and not just because
she was a poet
for she was a poem herself—
not the scary depressing poems
I’m always writing
or the angry flowing intense ones
that she’s shown me
but the Poem
the poem every poet
every where at every time
has waited for
the perfect poem
to bring immortality
as great as the greatest love . . .
and each time she smiles
my heart stops
the merest hesitation
before thundering
verily out of my chest
and each time she laughs
my soul soars
as an eagle unfettered
from the gloom
of mundane reality
to the magickal heights
of glorious heaven
. . . but then
as we stood
in the parking lot
saying our goodbyes
staring intently into
one another’s eyes
there was a moment
displaced from reality
when time stood still
and the world ceased to exist
as at the end of a date
when both of you wonder
if you’re going to kiss but
I couldn’t ignore
that whatever happened
she would be going home
to someone else and
then the world came back
time moved forward
and the moment was over
as if it had never been—
and then she was gone.
Musings - #19
Bitch, bitch, bitch!—
sometimes I almost think
I wouldn’t know happiness
if it came up and bit me on the ass . . .
(although that certainly sounds
like a good start . . .)
Contents—
from “The Gileadean”
The Poet
July 6, 1999
Fabliau
Stopping By Robert Frost on a Snowy Evening
Discipline
“In Dubious Battle”
Steinbeck’s Pants (Chapter IX)
“Artemis For Pants”
Hasty Pudding
Napoleon’s Nanny
Lincoln
The Monkey Poems: Julius Caesar
The Monkey Poems: Charlemagne
The Monkey Poems: Genghis Khan
The Monkey Poems: Ivan the Terrible
Chunks of Sky - #62
Generations
My Second Self
The Diplomacy of Mikes
Cousin Mitch
Chunks of Sky - #41
Copropeon
Shower
Age and Wisdom
Musings - #26
A Poem Using the Word “Bludgeon”
Chunks of Sky - #33
July 12, 1999
Love Inhalation
An Ode to Spring
Harken Thee Width
Slovenly, Slovenly
Morsels
The Prostitute
Chesapeake Bay
Chlamydia
Corpus Inundrum
Chunks of Sky - #12
Count Vronsky Appears
Dating
Musings - #12
She of God’s Grace
Askance
Stella’s Got a Sexy Tongue
Players 3
Lolita
Musings - #18
The Blood Sea
Vodka Gimlet, With a Slice of Lime
September 14, 1999
Love Feint
The Hint of a Whiff
Interlude: Fourteen Months Later . . .
Prism Painted Dreams . . .
“The Yoke of Inauspicious Stars”
Chunks of Sky - #8
Five Cents a Dance
Alone
February 22, 1999
Touchy, Feely
Crabs
New Years Eve ‘98
“Stompin’ at the Savoy”
Listening to the Voices
Fatalities
The Beast
The Hunger
The Carnival Time
Count Vronsky Again
The Pleiades
Musings - #10
Hypothyroidism
Chunks of Sky - #29
1998
Canadian Wiles
So Are We All . . .
The Bliss of Ignorance
The Mountain of Megiddo
Megiddo’s Antiphony
The Paine of Lacking Common Sense (An Ode to Political Parties)
Vodka and Lemonade Dreams
My Life
Musings - #19
Scoff Not
Revelations
Chunks of Sky - #37
The Dog Days of Summer
The River
Vermont II
Chunks of Sky - #39
Aborigine
January 3, 1998
Of
Gilded Hearts and Girded Loins