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In the Serene River: Poem by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal
Who Does Not Love You: Poem by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal
Abject Lesson: Poem by Paul Hostovsky
Benedict Arnold: Poem by Paul Hostovsky
Looking Around for Something Dead to Roll Around In: Poem by Paul Hostovsky
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Dark Tales from Gent's Pens

Paul Hostovsky: Abject Lesson

106_ym_abjectlesson_bernice.jpg
Art by Bernice Holtzman © 2024

Abject Lesson

 

by Paul Hostovsky

 

They kill the intellectuals first.

It goes back to the old hatred

for the smartest kid in the class,

the one whose hand was always up,

practically levitating in his seat—

“Oh, I know, I know.” But he didn’t

know they kill the intellectuals first;

didn’t know the stolid, bored,

backrow kids who were slow in school

would be swift and decisive

in violence. Where did they learn it?

he asks himself now, blood

gushing from his nose and mouth,

the articulate fingers reaching out

from the sleeves of the well-ironed uniforms

to remove daintily, almost lovingly,

the eyeglasses from the blinking eyes

of the intellectuals first, then dropping them

to the ground, then crushing them

with the boots. So much to learn, dear heart,

say the ironical uniform evil smiles,

which, stitched together, form a kind of

horizon line at the end of the world.

 

 

Paul Hostovsky's latest book of poems is Pitching for the Apostates (Kelsay, 2023). His poems have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, The Writer's Almanac, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and the Best American Poetry blog. Website: paulhostovsky.com

Bernice Holtzman’s paintings and collages have appeared in shows at various venues in Manhattan, including the Back Fence in Greenwich Village, the Producer’s Club, the Black Door Gallery on W. 26th St., and one other place she can’t remember, but it was in a basement, and she was well received. She is the Assistant Art Director for Yellow Mama.

In Association with Black Petals & Fossil Publications © 2024