Ben Nardolilli

Not Going There

by Ben Nardolilli

I don’t go out much into nature,

I respect writing and poetry too much,

I know that if I go out onto a path

And that path leads past beautiful flowers,

And those beautiful flowers

Are sitting by a bright blue lake,

Which is bright and blue because of the sky,

Then I am going to pen another poem

Dedicated to the world which already knows

What it is capable of generating,

If the birds are sweetly singing as well,

It might also take on needless pentameter.

Press, Depress, Mash

by Ben Nardolilli

You'll have noticed that I'm not very adept

With knobs, switches and buttons,

Yes, I was the one who smashed

The alarm clock by mistake

And split the remote control wide open,

Push, pull, and swing are activities

I never managed to master,

In an emergency, perhaps an instinct

Will surface itself and I will survive,

In ordinary time, I find the material world

Impossible to activate for my benefit.

Analyze and Report

by Ben Nardolilli

If I joined the intelligence services,

I wonder if they'd fear me,

I wonder if they'd need me too,

But I suppose I can help crack out

A message in code,

A passage of phrases so dense

And allusive that no enemy

Could ever get through them,

But our side might lose time

Trying to decipher the words,

Since the only machine

Capable of cracking the enigma

Would be a full-fledged dissertation,

Still, I bet they would fear me

Up and down the corridors

Of a headquarters

Which no one can confirm

Exists or does not exist,

The higher-ups would be afraid

Of a poet on staff, I'm sure,

Someone who can go over

To the enemy as soon

As her or his sensitive soul

Is disgusted by a routine violation

Of ideals and idealism,

Those in the business of secrets

And covering up crimes

Can never trust a person

With a sharp mind and weak stomach.

Ben Nardolilli currently lives in Arlington, Virginia. His work has appeared in Perigee Magazine, Red Fez, Danse Macabre, The 22 Magazine, Quail Bell Magazine, Elimae, fwriction, THEMA, Pear Noir, The Minetta Review, and Yes Poetry. He has a chapbook Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained, from Folded Word Press. He blogs at http://mirrorsponge.blogspot.com/ and is looking to publish his first novel.