GAS Featured Poet: Richard Modiano

 Richard Modiano is a native of Los Angeles.  From 2010 to 2019, he served as Executive Director of Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center. In that time he produced and curated hundreds of literary events. Richard is a rank and file member of the Industrial Workers of the World. In 2019 he was elected Vice President of the California State Poetry Society. The Huffington Post named him as one of 200 people doing the most to promote poetry in the United States.

The Perfect Ones

The perfect ones

The beautiful ones

The right ones, the just ones, the nobles ones

The ones who never break

down crying in restaurants,

who never do anything in secret that they would be ashamed of

The normal ones

The healthy ones

The ones who always plan ahead

The content ones

The happy ones

The ones who work hard

and reap the benefits,

who brush and floss after every meal

The well-adjusted ones

The popular ones

The ones who never disappoint,

who grow up to be president

The lucky ones

The ones with perfect skin and perfect teeth and perfect figures

The ones who want what they have and have what they want –--

 

They don’t exist

The ones posing as them

 are even more fucked up than you.

 

 Poem for Rob Plath

Walk outside if you can –

or go to a window and open it.

Close your eyes

and sniff the air.

Listen –

What do you hear

calling on the wind?

Are the birds singing?

Are the crows cawing?

Do you hear

the rhythmic throb

of city traffic?

The cycling trill

of car alarms?

the cry of children

At play?

Open your eyes –

see the patterns

of light and shadows

the play of the wind.

begin your education

in the language

of nature.