Joe Dolce: Four Poems
Lemonscent
The lane neglected in leaf and wrapper
non-descript off the main
save fruit-laden branches peering
over grey board
the old tree stopped me dead
I detoured in pulling the nearest down
snapping the stem others were higher than reach
while looking for something to lift me
I recalled civil law on harvesting fruit
overhanging public lanes: property of owner
still sour sunfaces and green-yellow leers
can’t be resisted sliding a wheelie bin balancing shakily
one hand on fence one arm stretching
into thorny light I barely tickled the bottom
rind of a fat one
as the back gate swung open
a lemon-haired woman invited me in
to pick all I wanted
I wouldn’t want you to get scratches
helping fill my coat pockets
I like sharing
we touched hands briefly
thanks and goodbye
I left her pleasant lane
returning to a duller street
saturated with scent
of good tidings and lemon.
Joe Dolce
Lorca Said I Can Conceive
Lorca said I can conceive
of no poetry other than the lyric
the rhythm the rhyme the weave
of song so why then do we fear it
jump-rope tunes lullabyes
refrains of childhood games
the fee fo the fum and fi
a sing-a-long with Dick and Jane
Spot and Cousin George
Doctor Seuss Mother Goose
the Three Bears steaming porridge
Bullwinkle the Moose
cartoons nonsense doggerel
have informed who we are
bless Ogden Nash and Lewis Carroll
When You Wish Upon a Star
Picasso said it took him five
years to paint like Raphael
but a whole life he had to strive
to tell the stories a child can tell
so sing up the country lullaby
and remember ourselves to sleep
forget about Almighty Why:
in the simple lay the deep.
Joe Dolce
The Poetess
The door wet-toweled
from inside to prevent leakage
required a workman’s shoulder
despite a key fighting off
carbon monoxide gag
windows quickly prised open
discovering the kneeling body in repose
the poet’s head thrust far
into the old Rangemaster oven
no explanatory note
where are the two children …
through the imagined breathing window
geese fly in reverse
night gives way to sunset
and hands counter-clock
in the temporal shift of what if …
the poetess is arrested pusher-walking
two infants blocks away
a confessional diary held tightly
reveals his abuse her plan—
unfaithful husband invited to tea to talk
drugged drink better him than her she thought
the poetess in our alternate
judged guilty of murder
a life sentence continues writing
incarcerated recognition
in certain circles is declared a new Genet
the dead husband’s pregnant mistress bears
an illegitimate daughter remarrying
an understanding man quietly in Israel
the child grows up beautiful and good
the son of the poetess at fifteen begins prison visits
assuming the role of mother’s protector
a passion for wildlife encouraged by her love
leads to his own mystical nature poetry
marriage to an Australian photographer
retreat to the Hawkesbury River
bequeathing the poetess three grandchildren
the daughter of the poetess eighteen
adamantly refusing to have anything to do with the mother
dutifully champions her late father’s unrealized work
the poetess over time attracts international recognition
first in the US later the UK
public support and petition force her
early release after only fifteen served
cult movement supporters of murdered husband
outraged at leniency stage protests at literary festivals
the poetess at forty-six relocates back to US
retaining close acquaintance with newly minted
British Laureate Larkin who attributes her inspiration
to overcoming the writer’s block originally preventing
his acceptance of the Award
the poetess sustains two further long term affairs
one with a woman she never remarries
releasing her final volume
The Funeral Postcards
in the year of her passing at eighty-five the poems—
absolute and honest contrition
for the murder of her husband—
astound the literary world
winning the Pulitzer Prize
after death the unburnt diary seized
at the time of arrest is canonized
beside the confessional notebooks
of Countess Tolstoy and Cosima Wagner
the longtime estranged daughter of the poetess
at fifty-three a successful art critic
marries a man three years junior
a man in black with a meinkampf look
a year later she forgives
the poetess her mother
for the death of her father.
Joe Dolce
Thirty-Three Years of Bliss
an anniversary mediation
33 is the largest positive integer that cannot be expressed as a sum of different triangular numbers
a normal human spine has 33 vertebrae
the divine name Elohim appears 33 times in the story of creation
Jesus’s age when he was crucified in 33 A.D.
a religious image of the Virgin Mary from the 18th century is known in Uruguay as Virgen de los Treinta y Tres (Virgin of the Thirty-Three)
according to Al-Ghazali the dwellers of Heaven will exist eternally in a state of being age 33
Islamic prayer beads are generally arranged in sets of 33
33s are long playing records or LPs
in French Italian Romanian Spanish and Portuguese the word a patient is usually asked to say when a doctor is listening to his or her lungs with a stethoscope—
Trente-Trois, Trentatrè, Treizeci şi trei, Treinta y Tres and Trinta e Três
the number of workers trapped and also the number of survivors of the 2010 Copiapó mining accident
Alexander the Great died at the age of 33
the atomic number of arsenic
33 is—according to the Newton scale—the temperature at which
water boils.
Joe Dolce
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins