Ostriches - a poem by Joseph Silver

Ostriches

In a city of casinos,


You wear sunglasses to bed.


After you crash in your


Five dollar shades,

I explore our zero star room


For love notes by cokeheads.

I take a photo of you


Slouched against the headboard,

Wearing nothing but


Skimpy briefs with a cutesy pattern


That should be the flag


Of the United States of America.

We love each other,


At least for a time in this rundown


City that used to be spiffy.


I take another photo, making sure

It’s blurry so no one will know


Who you are if they find the prints.


Then nearly wake you


To laugh at infomercials

But lie beside you instead,


Watching your eyelids


Ripple behind the sepia lenses


You conked out in.

You dream about giant, petrified


Ostriches in this city by the water.


You dream of how we climbed their backs


After eating infinite buffets.

You have this dream about ostriches that


No one else understands except me,


Because we were the only ones riding them,


Wearing sunglasses even though it was night.

Happy National Poetry Month! I picked this poem specifically because it is about ostriches. Because I just saw an ostrich. At the Scipio gas station petting zoo in Scipio, Utah, a place we often stop on drives between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas (and further places south). Those of you who know my blog will recall many photos and writings about this place - a definite Byway stop. So, I have ostriches on my mind, and time in the car to blog this.

What I like about this poem, besides the fact that it is about ostriches, is that it is by a poet I've never heard of - Joseph Silver. He is not a big-name, well known poet. You won't find him on poets.org or The Writers Almanac. He is just a guy, who writes poetry, created a website to share it, and thus is following his passion. And he wrote a poem about ostriches. 

He studied and now lives in New York City. He won some Scholastic Writing Awards in 1989 and 1990. He makes a living running a motion graphics boutique. And I bet he still loves to write poems. So here is a shout out to all the struggling poets in the world. 

For more information about Joseph Silver, check out his website.