Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Michael Casey: BLUE DOT SIGN


she was walking down Bridge Street
to the Blue Dot
buy a half pound
for Sister Vincent Ferrer’s
Saint Patrick’s Day gift
box of candy
she was already in the car
when she told me that
or I wouldn’t have offered her
a ride in my pink cadillac
for Sister Vincent Ferrer?
Sister Vincent not my favorite person
Sister Vincent an Irishman?
you must have to be kidding me
but my passenger, Sister James, asks me
 Albert, how’d you get
 the money for such a nice car
like I stole it
  well I stall
  it is something like a secret, Sister
  you have to be discreet
  wouldn’t spread this around
  promise you won’t tell anyone, Sister?
  y’af to keep this quiet
  I mean this is like confessional, you know
  you won’t tell anybody? promise, right?
so she promises silence
as she gets out of the car
and I says
  Sister
  I rob banks
and she starts crossing herself
really really fast
looking up to heaven
after every sign
.
—Michael Casey (c) 2011

Michael Casey is the author of several books of poetry, including “Obscenities,” “Millrat,” and “Million Dollar Hole.” In 1972, he won the prestigious Yale Younger Poets Award for his book “Obscenities,” now considered a classic volume of both Vietnam War literature and war poetry of all time. His poems have appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Nation, and many literary journals. A Lowell native, he graduated from Lowell High School and UMass Lowell (then-Lowell Technological Institute), and SUNY Buffalo (MFA in Creative Writing). He lives in the Merrimack Valley.

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