Joseph Saling - Two Poems

The Streets of LA
April 29 1992:

First the pictures from Chicago,
Then the fall of Saigon.
Then Desert Storm on the late late show.

Then beneath the chopper’s whirling blades
A corona of anger spread.

A king was taken for a king,
And savage unchecked fires
Eclipsed our innocence.
The eye that neither blinks nor yields
And brings our hollowness home
Showed each exactly who he was —
A soulless man, an effigy
That’s only flesh and bone.

And so the story goes.
We are on an island where
Like boys set free by fires at home
We watch our own fires burn and die
And let the beast consume what’s left.



Perdix Tells the Tale

I’ll tell you how it all began. This man
Named Daedalaus could build you anything
You asked. One day, the king calls up and says
His wife has bedded. a bull. He doesn't mean
A stud who's hung just like a bull. He means
A bull. And then this lady has a kid,
A monster kid who looks a little like
A man but looks a lot more like a bull.

The king tells Daedulus he wants the kid
To be put away. The people talk, he says,
And it’s embarrassing. So Daedulus
Says sure, he’s got some time, he'll take the job.
He comes and builds a super maze. I mean
This puzzle's worthy of the New York Times,
And even if you made it all the way
Inside, you'd never find your way back out.

Right in the middle of this maze, the king
Sticks his wife’s bastard kid. Now why he kept
The freak alive and simply didn't drown
It's hard to say. But kings do what they want.
And you and I can only shake our heads
And pay the taxman what he says we owe.
And what a debt this king collected. He
Demanded neighbor's kids to feed this beast.

But bless the Lord for heroes. Theseus,
Who’s tired of all this crap, decides that he
Can build a reputation if he finds
A way to make the tributes stop. He'll kill
The kid, he says, and get away before
The king gets wise. He needs some inside help
To figure out the maze, and so he woos
The king's daughter who tells him what to do.

They pull it off. They get away. The king
Gets pissed. He snatches Daeadulus and grabs
His kid, whose name was Icarus, and locks
Them up in jail and throws away the key.
This isn't good, 'cause Daedalus lives by
His reputation and he knows how quick
The mob forgets a man who's out of sight.
So Daedalus has got to make some plans.

The trouble is the only way he sees
To leave this place is going through the sky.
No problem for our man. He builds a set
Of wings from wax and feathers. Then he makes
A junior set and teaches Icarus
To fly. You should have seen them leave. They rose
Like hawks. They soared up through the clouds.
They hummed
Like a squad of Blue Angels overhead.

But kids. They're always running off. They get
Ideas. Won’t listen to a single thing
A parent says. They have to test and see
How far the limits go. And Icarus
Was just thirteen, and his old man had no
Control. The boy took off and wouldn't stop.
Now what are parents always telling kids?
Don't go so near the water or you'll drown.

Don't stay so long out in the sun, you'll burn.
Just take the middle road. You've got a name.
So make your father proud. But Icarus,
He had to break the rules. They fished him from
The bay. And Daedalus, poor guy, no man
Should ever have to bury his own son.
You ask me how I know these things. My name
Is Perdix and my cousin's Icarus.

I worked my uncle's shop before these things
Took place. I studied well. I learned the trade,
But maybe learned too much. My uncle tried
To kill me. Now I watch just like a bird
Who hides beneath a bush. I see some things.
I write them down, I pass them on. I trade
My stories for a place to sleep, a tried
And worthwhile job for a nearly flighhtless bird.



Joseph Saling's first book of poems A Matter of Mind is available from Foothills Publishing. He lives in Atlanta where he paints with acrylics and makes a living as a health writer and editor.