Tuesday 30 March 2010

mario susko

the all

as a child I thought eternity
began whenever I stopped to count
the invisible stars in my room
because I ran out of numbers
trying to outpace the squeaking
of iron springs behind the paper wall.

when I kissed my grandmother's cheek,
her skin smelling of churned butter,
I knew she wasn't dead for I too
could lie in my bed with a wooden cross
in my hands and hold my breath forever.

I believed pregnant women were smugglers,
carrying, after the war, sacks of potatoes
or coal under their dress, and I learned
through fear, having seen a horse drop
out of a horse, I hadn't come from an egg.

there was so much unlearning
later in to be done, about the suitcase
full of maps with shortcuts to life
after life, a tree that could hide
its shadow, and words bring salvation
when ripeness starved its fruit to death.

sleeping in a different bed every night
to outguess random targets practitioners,
I came to see the all as a counted nothing.

this comes from mario susko's rather fabulous eternity on hold, another poem from which you can hear on the march 21st stanza podcast here at about six minutes in.

4 comments:

swiss said...

i think he has three available books at the moment - closing time, eternoty on hold and selected poems.

it's totally worth while listening to the egg on the podcast

NEDA M. said...

I have the honor and pleasure to be Dr. Mario Susko's student this semester. I consider myself lucky since it's rare in life to come across a great soul and wonderful poet such as Dr. Susko. Among all his poems I have read so far, there is not one that I don't love.

NEDA M. said...

There is not yet a single poem by Dr. Mario Susko that I have read and not absolutely loved. Keep reading, you won't be disappointed. His" Rules of Engagement" is a masterpiece.

swiss said...

thanks neda, you're not wrong. i can't believe i've only got one poem of his on here. i shall fix that!