Poems by Geoffrey Himes

THE OLD BEAR

The old bear sleeps in a fetal trance
beneath the rock ledge in the park.
He dreams of fish flying in slow-motion
and of a she-bear’s furry rump.

Winter now done, he wakes up hungry,
not for acorns, not for grubs.
He wants that pizza you threw away,
your daughter's leftover birthday cake.
He knows the berries are better for him,
but he covets that sharp, sweet sugar spike.

The old bear pads through suburban sprawl,
across the fairways and the dewy lawns,
his moist nose raised to detect popcorn,
microwave burritos and breaded fish sticks.
His claws tinker with the gate latch;
his paws knock down the recycling bin.

He knows he doesn’t belong here;
he should be back there in the woods,
shredding the ant hill and licking up bugs,
hunting the she-bear in the gooseberry bushes,
scooping the sun fish from the river
and holding it tight till the shiver stops.

This will end badly, just like it did before,
with the bloodied dog and the marinara vomit,
but he can’t help himself; he has never known
a greater thrill than the illicit prize:
your ice cream carton tumbling
from the toppled can and landing
right at his feet.

Baltimore, MD 5/28/14
Published in the Pendemics Journal No. 5, page 23, June, 2024
https://online.fliphtml5.com/ppypf/orhr/#p=24

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THE ANT IN THE HONEY

On the windowsill sits a mason jar of honey,
where the sun struggles through the translucent amber,
where an ant, betrayed by his own hunger,
struggles to keep his head above the gluey lake.

I unscrew the lid and dip the tip of a teaspoon
to lift out the ant and crush him between two fingernails.
“Stay out of my food,” I tell him, “and I’ll stay out of yours.”

​But now I find myself at the crossroads of my own hunger:
The bathroom scale spins to a high number,
but here in my right hand is a peanut-butter-covered biscuit
that would taste so much better drizzled in honey.

Baltimore, MD, 12/4/19
Unpublished

Geoffrey Himes’s poetry has been published by Best American Poetry, December, Redactions, Gianthology, the Loch Raven Review, Pendemics, Survision, Innisfree, Salt Lick, Cathexis Northwest, Gargoyle and other publications. His poems are included in the anthologies Baltimorology, Singing in the Dark and Poet Trees: Poetry Hiding in Plain Sight. His song lyrics have been set to music by Si Kahn, Walter Egan, Billy Kemp, Fred Koller and others. He has written about popular music for the Washington Post, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian Magazine, Paste, Downbeat, Sing Out and No Depression since 1977.

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