Joe Dolce: Four Poems
Blondi
Eva Braun preferred her Scottish terriers,
Negus and Stasi, and hated Blondi,
whom she secretly kicked under tables,
getting satisfaction when Hitler became perplexed
at the shepherd’s strange behaviour.
Goebbels said the Führer enjoyed walking Blondi,
certain of no conversation on war or politics.
Blondi had five whelps,
one named Wulf,
after the Latin meaning of Adolph—
adalwolf: noble wolf.
Blondi, propaganda star,
portrayed the Führer as animal lover,
but doubting potency
of the final cyanide capsules,
Hitler ordered one
tested on Blondi,
who died instantly.
Joe Dolce
Leechcraft
Egyptians used leeches
3500 years ago, painting
them into hieroglyphics
(at first, mistakenly, thought to be cobras).
The Roman physician, Galen,
popularized leeching, announcing
major arteries filled with blood, not
air, as previously believed.
Leeches are hermaphroditic segmented worms,
with six to eight pairs of legs,
and thirty-two brains, one per segment.
A staple in Middle Ages home medicine cabinets,
if a leech refused to drink,
it could be encouraged with ale.
A family doctor was commonly referred to,
both professionally, and respectfully, as
the Leech.
Joe Dolce
Skeptic’s Friday
A black ladder crossed my path,
I walked under a cat.
Broken luck, seven-year mirror,
when in church, leave on your hat.
Knock off wood. Finger Crosses.
The thirteenth elevator cuts your losses.
Shoe a horse, pointing up,
spill the salt, in someone’s lap.
Put a table on your shoes.
Closed umbrellas, outdoors, can’t lose.
Joe Dolce
Spock
Original Dutch family name Spaak,
fur traders, settled the 17th century American colony,
of New Netherlands.
Second wife, Mary, forty years younger,
introduced Spock to macrobiotic living—
he continued racing sailboats until
the age of eighty-four.
Norman Vincent Peale claimed
Dr Spock’s child-rearing books
led to the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Permissiveness in youth.
Son, Michael, directed
the Boston Children’s Museum.
Grandson, Peter, 22, committed suicide,
jumping off the museum roof.
A mother once wrote him:
Thank God, I’ve never used your horrible book.
That’s why my children take baths,
wear clean clothes,
and get good grades in school.
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