Poems by Vincent J Calone

​Teach a Man to Fish

Teach a man to fish- fixes it all-
Right? No? Wasn't that what they taught us?
Give a man a fish and he eats for
a day. Teach a man to fish and he

eats for a lifetime. Sounds simple right?
Well, what if there is no fishing rod?
What if there is no fishing line. What
if there is no ocean or any

fish left to catch, or stove to cook on,
or knife to clean and filet them so?
What if there was no more hunger? Or
belly to fill? Or need to nourish?

What if the man knows how to fish but
chooses not to? What if that man hates
fish. Maybe, he's allergic-what's next?
Do we force-feed him the tuna raw?

Like an obstinate child. Sent to
his room without dinner, with hunger
still unsatisfied. We think we know
what's best. Open up, chew and swallow.

*Form- Clicks Syllabics- CLXXX (Roman Numeral for 180)
​(9 syllables per line, 5 stanzas, 4 lines per stanza, 180 syllables)

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Never Expect Too Much

If only someone had saved me
the last slice of pizza...
Optimistic, but naive.
But, wouldn't it be nice?

A friendly hand to hold a door.
I beg your pardon. Oh, what for?
Never expect too much from people
and you won't be disappointed.

Always assume the worst outcome,
you'll be sad, but remain undaunted.
The world's an unkind place,
when you're waiting in a line.

When shortages and overreactions
seem to monopolize our time.
Or are we outta time? I suspect the latter.
It's inherent, baked within the batter.

If you were listening to me
in the first four stanzas, this about sums it up.
If you were expecting more,
sorry to end this so abrupt.

*Form-drabble

Vincent J Calone is a New Formalist poet. He studied under Lewis Turco- author of the "New Book of Poetic Forms" on New England Press.
Poet, playwright, actor, director- he wears different many hats but the message remains the same- Why do we do what we do? How can we change it? And how can we learn, grow and evolve? Vincent's writes and posts a new poem everyday on Raven Wire Poetry Prompts on Facebook continuously since 08/01/22 based off on the daily poetry prompt. Vincent is proud to                                                                     be part of the writing collective.

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