Those Lusty Boys
by Linda Goin
I wonder if Wallace Stevens knew
his poems, one day, would suffer
inspection with pencil notes
drawn between lines and in margins,
especially around specific words
to that cold ruler, the emperor
of ice cream. According to faint
impressions, this dirge speaks
to death and dawdling demimondes
and boys who court both bravely.
I want to know why Wallace chose
ice cream, rather than whipped cream.
Along those edges, I would like to add
memories about my grandma’s
gingerbread cookies, my mother’s cakes,
my first husband’s fried chicken
that often wound up piecemeal
on the ceiling. Also, my brother’s
Boboli crust pizzas. All this food
is temporary, transformative, turning.
Yet, this poem is not about thirteen ways
of looking at consumption, even though
that word could mean a mortal disease
as well as how we treat existence.
Everything is temporary except love,
and that condition continues only
because we so desperately desire
longevity, because we want more
than those lusty boys bearing flowers
wrapped in last month’s newspapers.
Wallace Stevens is one of my favorite poets. This poem is based upon Stevens’ poem, “The Emperor of Ice Cream.” The references include the title as well as the flowers in last month’s newspapers.
The poetry of Virginia-born Linda Goin is informed by many locales, including Pennsylvania, Colorado, Australia, and Kentucky. Her poems have been published in Yankee Boy Review, Poets for Living Waters, Mentress Moon (Sundress Publications), and Mojave River Review. Her chapbook She-Oak is forthcoming from Musehick Publications.
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