{"id":86790,"date":"2019-03-22T17:23:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T00:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=86790"},"modified":"2019-03-22T17:28:57","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T00:28:57","slug":"delicatessen","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=86790","title":{"rendered":"Delicatessen"},"content":{"rendered":"

(after Hurricane Sandy & 3 nights of no power)<\/em><\/p>\n

In the delicatessen a last avocado.
\nBlack, pulpy\u2014a kind of soft grenade.<\/p>\n

I set it down
\nfor probably nobody.<\/p>\n

I step out\u2014not through doors
\nbut through clear plastic tatters
\nshimmering in a doorframe.<\/p>\n

Hothouse roses on the shelves outside;
\nhyacinths in foiled cups.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Calling storms by dumb names\u2014
\nnot the shabbiest way of neutering disaster,
\nI think.<\/p>\n

Like the pit bull called Cuddles,
\nthe Lovers\u2019 Lane near the sewage treatment plant\u2014<\/p>\n

Even\u00a0All Saints\u2019 Day,\u00a0<\/em>
\n<\/em>when you think about it.
\nToday, when I say,\u00a0I have it good<\/em>,
\nmeaning,\u00a0better than others<\/em>,<\/p>\n

& the children screaming\u00a0Help<\/em>
\n<\/em>then\u00a0Made you look<\/em>, meaning
\nWe tricked you<\/em>\u2014<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

But hyacinths in November!
\nYou should see them!<\/p>\n

Hyacinths make roses ridiculous by contrast.<\/p>\n

Just look at the roses
\nhyperventilating in their cellophane shawls\u2014<\/p>\n

Pluck their cat claws & they don\u2019t object…<\/p>\n

I want to grab someone passing & ask
\nthe riddle that flowers won\u2019t answer\u2014
\nhow much beauty
\ncomes from never saying no?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Maybe someone\u00a0will<\/em>\u00a0answer me.
\nThat\u2019s why I keep my mouth shut.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

But not the sour-mouthed cashier\u2014
\nshe handles the bills,
\nshe carelessly dabs the lemon wedge
\nshe keeps by the side of the register.<\/p>\n

Never a word from her.
\nMaybe the balances chafe
\nthe tongue as well as the fingers.<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t need to keep an eye peeled\u2014
\nthe cameras do it all.<\/p>\n

If I could teach one art, it
\nwould be how to go home unanswered,
\nempty-handed\u2014<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

But what about the sidewalk Cyclops,<\/p>\n

the all-seeing tattoo on the bald guy\u2019s head,
\nwho once, I swear, called me by my right name,<\/p>\n

who saw me frowning in sunlight\u2014<\/p>\n

That & this so bad, Tyrell, you ain\u2019t<\/em>
\nseen the darkest yet<\/em>…<\/p>\n

The subway\u2019s closed tonight\u2014
\nwhat darkest dark can he guard now?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019d grow to like it\u2014<\/p>\n

the terrible wisdom
\nof stillness. The stomach, unchurning,
\nhollow as a prop.<\/p>\n

The circles moving around them,
\nthe cashier & the Cyclops.
\nThe flowers too, if they can
\nreckon up anything besides their own mutilation.<\/p>\n

Maybe they can sense
\nthe babies wheeling by at warp speed…<\/p>\n

who seem too light, having
\nlittle to them, or too much\u2014an eye,
\na name, some inarticulate rage,
\nall that\u2019s needed to be called a storm.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s a blackout, Tyrell?<\/em>
\nAfraid of roaches?
\nMaybe you\u2019ll make some new friends.<\/em><\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

And why hyacinths, why November?
\nWhy rooted, not cut through, uncovered,
\ncombining two colors?<\/p>\n

Celestial blue, arterial purple,
\nmaybe earth thinking both of heaven
\n& the blood in the sexes\u2014<\/p>\n

Thinking not only of a man-boy
\nturned into something beautifully inhuman
\nbecause a god looked at him once<\/p>\n

but also picturing women
\nwho know how to hide,<\/p>\n

the woman in the jungle camp called
\nHyacinth?<\/p>\n

76, secreting herself
\nunder a cot while the cult leader
\nin the pavilion makes nine hundred others
\nlie on the ground one last time,<\/p>\n

& they won\u2019t rise again,<\/p>\n

the cups on the ground like white flowers.<\/p>\n

The toxins, red and purple in the cups,
\naround the roses of their mouths.<\/p>\n

& Hyacinth who knows how to hide,
\nhow to wait for the last to drink
\neven as the writer of the last note<\/p>\n

summons those particulars
\nthat are terrible for being so ordinary\u2014<\/p>\n

a gray sky, a dog barking,
\na bird on a telephone wire.<\/p>\n

White night, the leader calls it.<\/p>\n

Stepping over the people on the ground\u2014
\nHyacinth & the moon
\ncan rise in the white, humid night.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

November then;
\nNovember now.<\/p>\n

A kind of soft grenade
\nI set down for probably nobody.<\/p>\n

Would I eat the goddamn flowers
\nif I thought they\u2019d answer?<\/p>\n

Made you look<\/em>\u00a0is all we can say<\/p>\n

(Michael Tyrell’s poem was originally published in the\u00a0Spring 2014 issue\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>Iowa Review, and was later selected for inclusion in\u00a0<\/em>Best American Poetry 2015. It is republished here with permission of the author.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Mr. Tyrell\u2019s book of poems,\u00a0<\/em>The Wanted, was published by the <\/em>National Poetry Review Press in 2012. His work has also appeared in <\/em>Fogged Clarity,\u00a0<\/em>The New Republic, and\u00a0<\/em>Toronto Quarterly.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(after Hurricane Sandy & 3 nights of no power) In the delicatessen a last avocado. Black, pulpy\u2014a kind of soft grenade. I set it down for probably nobody. I step out\u2014not through doors but through clear plastic tatters shimmering in a doorframe. Hothouse roses on the shelves outside; hyacinths in foiled cups. * Calling storms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":83654,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-86790","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86790"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86793,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86790\/revisions\/86793"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}