POETRY FORUM

BOKETTO ON THE CONEY ISLAND PIER

by Mel Waldman on January 23, 2022 :: 1 comment

Boketto
on the Coney Island Pier

&
waiting for the first snow

alone
in this barren place I taste the oceanic solitude

&
inhale the vacant universe & the cosmic breath of the Ultimate Nothingness

&
now I dream & gaze mindlessly into the Void where a vast desolation eats my brain

in
Covid time

Boketto
on the Coney Island Pier

&
drifting through the chimerical snow I vanish into a dream a fugitive from the Un-Reality

of
the eerie earth & its unspeakable secrets & the Self growing in me-transmogrified & alien

editors note:

Take a long stare into what you’ll be somewhen, somewhere. – mh clay

Comments 1

Marie Higgins
January 24, 2022 at 5:54 am

I learned a new word, actually two! I guessed boketto to be an ethnic food, looked it up, and realized the definition is in the poem. The fresh phrase “a vast desolation eats my brain” resonates.

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A bit about Mel:

Dr. Mel Waldman is a licensed New York State psychologist and a candidate in Psychoanalysis at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies (CMPS). He is also a poet, writer, artist, and singer/songwriter. After 9/11, he wrote 4 songs, including “Our Song,” which addresses the tragedy. His stories have appeared in numerous literary reviews and commercial magazines including AUDIENCE, HAPPY, SWEET ANNIE PRESS, POETICA, CHILDREN, CHURCHES AND DADDIES and DOWN IN THE DIRT (SCARS PUBLICATIONS), PBW, NEW THOUGHT JOURNAL, THE BROOKLYN LITERARY REVIEW, HARDBOILED, HARDBOILED DETECTIVE, DETECTIVE STORY MAGAZINE, ESPIONAGE, and THE SAINT. He is a past winner of the literary GRADIVA AWARD in Psychoanalysis and was nominated for a PUSHCART PRIZE in literature. Periodically, he has given poetry and prose readings and has appeared on national T.V. and cable T.V. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Private Eye Writers of America, American Mensa, Ltd., and the American Psychological Association. He is currently working on a mystery novel inspired by Freud’s case studies. Who Killed the Heartbreak Kid?, a mystery novel, was published by iUniverse in February 2006. It can be purchased at iuniverse.com, bn.com, at amazon.com, and other online bookstores or through local bookstores. Some of his poems have appeared online in THE JERUSALEM POST. Dark Soul of the Millennium, a collection of plays and poetry, was published by World Audience, Inc. in January 2007. It can be purchased at worldaudience.org, bn.com, at amazon.com, and other online bookstores or through local bookstores. A 7-volume short story collection was published by World Audience, Inc. in May 2007 and can also be purchased online at the above-mentioned sites. I AM A JEW, a book in which Dr. Waldman examines his Jewish identity through memoir, essays, short stories, poetry, and plays, was published by World Audience, Inc. in January 2008.

Contact Mel:
mwaldman18@earthlink.net