{"id":357,"date":"2018-09-12T01:37:17","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T01:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=357"},"modified":"2018-08-06T01:55:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T01:55:38","slug":"poetry-by-peter-l-shaheen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2018\/09\/12\/poetry-by-peter-l-shaheen\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry by Peter I Shaheen"},"content":{"rendered":"
Peter Shaheen has been writing for thirty years in a variety of genres. He does not consider himself an academic poet,\u00a0 but still does write mostly poetry.<\/em><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Spaghetti Sauce<\/h3>\n

Tomatoes: six of them
\nThree heirloom; three regular reds
\nOnions: two
\nOr maybe one big one
\nVadella the best.<\/p>\n

Cut \u2018em all in half
\nPeel the onions first
\nMaybe core the tomatoes
\nYou decide
\nYou\u2019re the chef.<\/p>\n

Lay each face down
\nOne at a time
\nAnd slice eight or ten times
\nLong ways is best
\nCareful: to hold the shape.<\/p>\n

Now sideways slices
\nSteady hand and sharp
\nKnife. Cut fine in small sections
\nnot to offend tastes–
\nI like chunks but not all do.<\/p>\n

(Note to self:
\nSharpen knives–
\nOnes too dull tear
\nThe skins. Funny,
\nI know I won\u2019t.)<\/p>\n

Cooking sauce is not life
\nEven if poets insist
\nMetaphor makes it so
\nBut it cannot sustain souls–
\nHeat burns.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Insatiable<\/h3>\n

Law maker —
\nthe who who know rules,
\nand when to break them.<\/p>\n

Legs apart shoulder width, toes straight
\nfirm in the firmament, fearless and foreboding
\nunswaying, unswayed.<\/p>\n

The destroyer of ancient, forgotten kingdoms
\nAskum, Kush, Yam, Yuezhi
\ndealer in destruction, death.<\/p>\n

In caves, across rivers, through trees and into night.
\nchest beater drumming echoes\u2026
\nResounding on earth<\/p>\n

appetites breed appetites
\nCertain and immortal,
\nTime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the Road from Douma<\/em><\/h3>\n

After<\/em> CAROL FROST<\/em><\/a>\u2019S ALIAS CITY<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>
\nAlong the river
\nShaded by olive trees, euphorbias, mimosas,
\nYet this is no place for emissaries.<\/p>\n

A tentative traveler or two,
\nMerchants, Bakers, University Students,
\nFugitives with thirsty revolvers,<\/p>\n

Dusty palms and minarets in the distance
\nNot far from the war shattered shores,
\nAnd gassed out homes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fleeing caravans–refugees
\nWords burnt off tongues
\nNever to speak.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shoebills, white-bellied storks, and hope
\nHave taken flight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

City Boy Here<\/h3>\n

City boy here\u2014not much for fishin\u2019.
\nOnce on a river somewhere–
\nOnce for Salmon in dad\u2019s boat.<\/p>\n

My old buddies fished all the time.
\nFound pleasure in it\u2014when pleasure was to be had
\nfishin\u2019 in Michigan lakes.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d catch bass, pike, even perch
\nThey fish with a bow, spear and yes, a pole.
\nIce fish in winter.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be invited but stay back at the cabin
\nThinking about dinner
\nOr maybe, reading this or that,<\/p>\n

Snack on an apple, or pie,
\nturn pages and fall asleep.
\nTill they all clamored back.<\/p>\n

Never any doubt it was them–
\nCame roaring in laughing and hootin\u2019
\nLouder than Hades\u2014full of fish stories.<\/p>\n

Once Bob pushed Mark into the lake,
\nMort poured a beer on Artie
\nAnd Penie got a ticket for swearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPenie, just what the hell kind of name is Penie?\u201d
\nThat\u2019s what we asked him once.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s my name,\u201d he said as if that settled it.<\/p>\n

In the evenings we sat out back
\nSmoking and drinking beers, using rifles
\nTo Shoot the heads off snapping turtles.<\/p>\n

About the closet I\u2019ve come to fishin\u2019
\nWas once while bathing in the lake
\nI took a dump.<\/p>\n

It was an accident,
\nA leach lighted on Artie\u2019s balls
\nAnd I laughed so hard I pooped.<\/p>\n

Penie said he would cut the leach
\nOff Artie\u2019s balls. Everyone laughed;
\nI was the only one to crap.<\/p>\n

The girls never went fishin\u2019 with us,
\nI wonder why.
\nMaybe we never asked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Shaheen has been writing for thirty years in a variety of genres. He does not consider himself an academic poet,\u00a0 but still does write mostly poetry.   Spaghetti Sauce Tomatoes: six of them Three heirloom; three regular reds Onions: two Or maybe one big one Vadella the best. Cut \u2018em all in half Peel … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-5L","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":364,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions\/364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}