Joe Dolce: Two Poems

The Right

George W Bush was Right,

so was Jimmy Carter.

90% of the world is Right.

Right reaches puberty five months earlier than Left.

Latin: dextera Domini—sitting on the Right of God.

German: Rechtshänder, French: droit—direct, straight, Law.

Most scripts read Left to Right.

Dutch: Laat uw linkerhand niet weten wat uw rechterhand doet—

don’t let your Left know what your Right is doing.

Chinese Muslims eat only with the Right—

in a typical household, the wife sits to the Right,

in bed, she lies on the Left.

In Taiwan, Left are strongly encouraged to switch to Right—

but stuttering and dyslexia often happen, if forced Right.

Rats and monkeys favor the Right for handling things.

The Right tend toward rational, analytic; the Left holistic.

Left generally zig-zag, bump noses, when kissing Right.

In machinery, the Right twists clockwise, receding from the observer.

Standard playing cards fan to the Right for visible numbers.

The Right differs from the Left by one IQ point.

The Right live nine years longer than the Left.

Statisticians say Right is decreasing

Richard Nixon was Right,

so was JFK.

Joe Dolce

Tick

Itchy little skin flap.

On closer look,

a tick, pincered in tight.

In the microscope’s stare,

a Haller’s organ, sensored

tarus, twitching

for breath, body odor, vibration.

Hematophagic nano-Nosferatu,

with nothing eternal to swap,

offering Lyme’s and Hemorrhagic.

Cousin of mite,

great-grandbug of Cretaceous,

incapable of jump or glide,

eight-legged aerial artist of leaf & stem,

questing for the blood animal of me.

Low temperatures kill them.

Guinea fowls munch them—

two birds can clear two acres in a year.

Joe Dolce