Jerome Sala

Snow Day, by Jerome Sala
March 13, 2012 Sala Jerome

Snow Day

 

The camera in the other room points and clicks

a photo of Gulliver, as he travels along the TV screen

through an 18th century made charming

by the special effects of the great Ray Harryhausen.

A twinkly music peeps through the door – as if to offer

a personal hello, by way of its friendly familiarity.

I think Memory was considered the ultimate Muse

because it turned even the Ancients on

to the charms of the Retro.  Inspired this way

they could get busy inventing the Neo –

where all that was got to return, only in a better,

shinier form, as if the light of the present sun

released the once was from its past duties —

even the seeming obligation

to a tragically limited duration

Jerome Sala’s latest book is How Much? New and Selected Poems (NYQ Books).  Other books include cult classics such as Corporations Are People, Too! (NYQ Books), The Cheapskates (Lunar Chandelier), and Look Slimmer Instantly (Soft Skull). Widely published, his work appears in Pathetic Literature (Grove Atlantic) and two editions of Best American Poetry (Scribners). His blog, on poetry, pop culture and everyday life, is espresso bongo (https://espressobongo.typepad.com/).