National Poetry Month 2020 Day 16: “The Scarlatti Tilt” & “Free Year”

I love how poetry can say so much with so few words, and so I got a couple of quickies

for you today. My Dad kindly gifted me a couple of his collections of Richard Brautigan’s
poetry from the 60s, “Revenge of the Lawn” and “Trout Fishing in America,” and I enjoyed
their prosey and sometimes absurd lines in my youth (and now!). 

The Scarlatti Tilt

By Richard Brautigan

“It’s very hard to live in a studio apartment in San Jose with a man who is learning to play the
violin.” That’s what she told the police when she handed them the empty revolver.  

In 2018, when I thought I was turning 37, it was actually my 36th birthday. I even told a friend,
wrongly, how old I would be turning the next day and had to then correct myself, having done
the non-complicated arithmetic. You see, my ex-wife and I were 1.5 years apart in age so starting
with her birthday each December, she’d start rounding-up my age (“you’re almost 36!”) so she
seemed to be only one year older than I, rather than apparently 2 years older during that 6-month
period. Once that idea got in my head I longer knew how old I in fact was! Further, when she left
me later that year, I truly was free in every sense, and though it was a gift I had not wanted or
asked for, it turned out to be a present nonetheless. 

Free Year

By Blythe Stephens

I’ve got a free year 

Back to the wild

Brazen and steely

No longer mild

Terrified, surely

Still dreaming dreams

Confronted by possibility 

Ripped open at the seams