The Wasp of Good Fortune
he sits lotus in the middle of the walk,
wrapped in robes and newsprint
the temperature drops
steam billows around his hollowed frame
like incense curling through a temple
he meditates on a steel plate grate,
a conduit to Nirvana Undone
like the bags unraveling around his feet
I step around him,
$8 dirty chai in hand
thinking of the
Concho belt I saw
Hanging on a wall
Behind a Modigliani
Long and lean
At the Barnes
The contradictions sting
Like the wasp of good fortune
I was on my way to a talk
about
Wallace Stevens,
Birds,
and the Impermanence
Of Being
….
This poem is from the book Witness Before the Fall by Emily Cosper (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://finishinglinepress.com/product/witness-before-the-fall-by-emily-cosper/
Emily Cosper lives and writes in New Orleans, a city she has called home for over 30 years. She is a Professor of English and an academic dean at a large community college in the city. Originally from the American West, she hopes someday to split her time between New Orleans and Taos.
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