Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by John A. Nieves
Balladeer Quatrains
This slant-ass love song is for six storeys
of cement and light and how it held every portable
us blanket-swaddled against scattering. This is
for the width of its spaces, slope of its ramps, the promise
of a place to just stop for a while in a world full
of go go go. This is for the friends on the roof as the fire-
works flew. This is for letting us wait out the down-
pours. This is for the music and the time to hear
it—Murder by Death cello pulled taught across
my days. Even in later works, Turla’s voice brings
me back (she’s a roving ghost) here. This is for all
the heys and good mornings I got to say and mean
and for the people who cannot hear them anymore
ever. This is for the weird shrimpy scent of callery pear
that marked spring in your air. But mostly, this is for the songs
you taught me to write, the curios. I’m sorry this one took so long.
By Heart
You are all chorus and no verse—catchy
and repetitive—just a few words and a rhyme.
The rabbi next door used to call you
Rice. No one knew why. Sometimes he would
mumble it like a curse, others he’d blow
it like a kiss. It was the way your head dangled
just off the pillow that told me you were
going. You had no bags to pack, no good-
byes to say. The others wondered after you
in duct tape and crayon, but never really
looked. We were more conjecture than action
then. The rabbi looked up every time the door
opened. I like to think he was waiting for you,
missed your hook, your melody. I have no
evidence. One day, he too was the crumbs
memory makes in the hall. I find myself
humming you sometimes. It is not a longing
but an echo of a longing—a tune to pass
the time.
***
Author photo courtesy of author