Poetry by Marlene Lintzer

Matt in Palestine

I said the snow was like Palestine-

the Palestine by the river,
the one they said swam like
a fish, in the Dead Sea, which
was choked with salt, and looked
beautiful in the morning-

and I sat down.

and he wandered to Jerusalem, and he was sick
from the sun, and then came home,

and pressed his head against
the snow-

it was the wall in the end,
and the river. it was the Lebanon
of his folded hands,

and in the fever,
the palestine fever
that was as red
as a comet, he stood by the
pale wall

(pale as his Jericho eyes)

I said
the snow
was like
Jerusalem. cupped it into my hands
until they burnt, and then I dropped
it on the cracked ground

and walked inside.
he was against the
wall. I could see him.
I could

see him like a fish in
a river, a

river of salt

Discussion between the Southerner and the Giant Squid

Southerner: I went to an accredited university, among
the battlefields, the cedar trees, the red rivers
which flooded, come summer. I
adapted the habits of my people. then I moved north-
for the ocean! now I live in
an apartment building
over the continental
shelf, and I swim even
in the awful storms. the salt burns the inside of my
mouth.
I cannot understand why
any-body would fall in love with me

Giant Squid: would you like me to say you less lonely?
what flags
have I unfurled? I know no banners. you have no idea
that I exist.

Southerner: I would like to know some alien
intelligence.
here the sea is roughened.
it feels like sand,
and when I sit in
the sand, it is wet,
storm-drenched.
perhaps because I cannot see you, I am lonely.

Giant Squid: then fall asleep
open-mouthed, like a silver fish beneath
the brown stars. I will not leave the unconscious
weedy gloom-
the eyeless fish-
the constant warmish ebb, coming sometimes to flood.

About the Author

I'm nearly 18, and I'm from New Jersey. I've been writing for most of my life, and I'm attending Monmouth University in the fall.