poem
River SplitIt ’s best to think of thisAs the river that splits.What was one, is now two Keep it a secretNo one will ever know It ’s always the same riverRiver is just a wordThat describes water fallingWhile everything else is standing stillRiver by nature takes the route Of least resistance,Often mistaken for a lazy winding But it feels like a ride A simile for time A metaphor for everything you ever missedSometimes you ’re drifting forwardSometimes it seems the shore is lapsing awayWhile you ’re frozen in place Either way it takes youTo the end of your lifeAnd then it keeps...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Poem #48Poetry is a pointing toward something both inarticulable and fleeting. Yes there are words, which is beside the point, but it ’s the best we can do. The actual words for describing it are unknown. All we can do is gesture. Prose, to its credit, also involves pointing. But we also learn about the finger. Why it’s crooked. Who it belongs to. How they arrived here. Where they came from. What they’ve been looking for. Wh y they feel the need to point at all. It gets deeper and more ornate. The backstory behind these particular high heeled shoes. How he made his fortune and then lost it all. A love sto...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Bulletin BoardA flock of birds high up Make the sky look perforatedLike a bulletin boardWith the tacks all removedWhite clouds hang like blank sheetsOf paper announcing nothing at allWe lay on our backs gazing upWaiting for written instructions 9/24/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Morning CommuteDriving in to work on the highwayA split-second vision of a flat stoneFrisbeeing from the rear tireOf the oblivious car in front of me,Its surface a shiny mosaicOf onyx black and reptilian greenLike the scutes of a turtle shellWhacking against my chassis And then the sparrow scutteringOut of the way just in timeAs I veered down the off rampTo a brief stop at a red light Where bees were swarming in the swale Around lilacs lazing in the late summer breezeDizzy in the drunkenness of third bloomAnd then, just ahead, passingPenitential geraniums slowly browningIn stone-cosseted flower bedsEmb...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Divorce II like when the sun and the moonShare the same ambered sky In the hour before night My favorite Tom and Jerry cartoonsAre the ones where cat and mouseAre friends not foes.But mom and dadAt the same eventIn the same room?I ’m two boys in one bodyFiddling with four handsEyes so wide it hurts.What I became in the dayDiffered from the man of the night.They had to take turns.Before the split, most trenchantlyOn nights of vicious fighting,I was still one boyListening to the moonWhisper its secrets To a fading sun 9/16/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 16, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
JeffEvery word has a meaningSome words have many meaningsAnd some meanings belong to many wordsHowever, the meanings we still care aboutAre out all night, searching for datesThere are four Jeffs in my fantasy football groupEach Jeff signifies something uniqueNobody ever says the word JeffWe call each other by our last namesWhen we gather, the word Jeff is meaninglessJeff is now the 2394th most popular nameChosen by new American parents for their babiesSomeday the word Jeff will replace the word HerbertIn the dictionary of lost languages Its entry will read: old and musty and mostly deadOne by one there will be n...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 12, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
BeesMy son is afraid of bees. By “bees” I mean any flying insect that stings. Anything airborne elicits a flurry of flinchings and broken field dashes for shelter. I’ve watched him zig zag away from what turned out to be a small bird. He swears he hears a pervasive sub-audible buzzing. It ’s gotten so bad he doesn’t even like flowers. People who don’t know him come to think he’s afraid of flowers but it’s not the flowers. I’m worried the same logic will compel him to fear the sun. He already has an uneasy relationship with summer. Daytime dread, agoraphobic hermit. Locked in a room shadowed in...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 12, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
TheodicyLet ’s say God is the space between two lovers and the devil is the time it takes for them to travel the distance. Angels bring fleeting moments of self forgetting. Wily demons whisper in your ear, convince you for the millionth time that the whole world can only be understood from the perspective of your own particular self. Prayer is the GPS app that tells you when you can expect to arrive. There are no words to recite. You just follow the green lines with your eyes, three times. Your lips are moving because you’re shivering. Everything skinny lines and yellow or blue. A hex is the twelve ca r pile up o...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 12, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
The BruxistI ' m a modern American manIn all the usual waysExcept for a rather severeVariant of night clenching.While sleeping I crack crownsAnd grind molarsDown to skipping stones.My dentist asks If I ’ve been eating rocks.Soon I ’ll need dietary modifications—Only softs and purees, nothing to gnaw,Nothing with a crunchAnything I can just gum.I wake with the ache of a spikeDriven into the hingeOf my jaw.Mouth guards don ’t helpI just clamp down harder.I ’m ravenous for something at night, it seems,Driven to feed an emptinessHiding in the hole of the gutThat can never be sated. As soon as I fall a...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - September 7, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
FearsI read somewhere If you ' re afraid of love it meansYou ' re just afraid of deathI don ' t want to die,Not yet. But I ' ll rise to the occasion.And so I stay love-adjacentI keep it close by8/27/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 27, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
ViolinsOf the woodwinds, violins are sexiest —That narrow tapered waist,The thin neck emerging from the upper boutLike a bare calf beneath a skirtTerminating in the carved scrollLike toes curled into the carpet.The plaintive sounds seem to comeFrom the dark holes of your eyesWith my hands wrapped around Your stringed fingerboard.I whisper this is making loveInto mysterious dark portalsWithout knowing where the words go.Oh if we could make this lastTo somehow forget for a few minutesMore that this is the same song playedOn the day of all death,Not as surging climaxBut somber adagio for strings Swelling to ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 27, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Dog HaikuThe dog ’s eyes look sadI scratch his head, his bellyHis eyes start to wag8/24/23 (Source: Buckeye Surgeon)
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Poem #48I want to write a poemAs simple as a series of instructionsWhen you get to the end, presto —A stylish new bookcaseThat never wobblesOr a complicated electric toyThat actually whirrs to life But there ' re no books for the empty shelvesAnd no kids are interested in your cheap plastic gift well then, a poem at least ought to be instructiveA series of steps taking youFrom point A to point BGet to the last stanzaAnd you ’re nearly in Paris.Halfway to self-immolationFor this to be true you have to know Where you ’re starting from And point A often remains elusiveWhich is the crux of the p...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 24, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Know ThyselfWhen you first come to understand yourselfAnd find out who you really areIt ’s like nothing you ever thoughtEverything clicks. It was always so obviousAll those things you ’ve doneAnd the ways you areThere was always an easy explanationA traceable map to explain the journeyFrom gallant young lad to workaholic hoarderClinging to crumbs Fallen from an untouched cake So fearful of lossHe ' d lost the taste for evenThe things that nourished himAnd not just a workaholic hoarderWith stones stacked around a soft heart But an ill-equipped little boy who hadTo go out alone and find the stonesTo ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 21, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
poem
Secret Third ThingSome mornings the sky is an impressionist painting steeped in violaceous streaks of timorous soft light. I pull over to the shoulder to snap a picture with my phone but the result never quite captures. A ginned up pick up truck veers too close and honks. By the time I get to work the colors have dissolved into the yellow orange haze. The sun continues to rise. The day arrives. Everything once again is gray or black or white. And all the others. The other colors. The ones I don ’t care about anymore. A painting is an artifact of loss. Museums compendiums of everything dear and departed.If I come up...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - August 17, 2023 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs
