Joel E. Chace: Two Poems
the subject | theory

the subject

is I (understood) on the cutting
edge of grammar so much
more personal than the you
(obsolete) version it's the hip
way to tell it all definitely
global most assuredly new
millenium and the story
is this...came home late
from work again...sat
on the patio with grill
and gin...found no
help there...laid the gun's
barrel along the tongue...pulled
the trigger...felt once more the blast but
no change...figured
out (finally) what
had happened to...

theory

one could
eliminate any element of
personal taste on the part
of the performer as well
as the potential for a flawed
performance by simply
filling the concert
hall and then projecting
upon a gigantic
screen a manuscript of
let's say one of Bach's
cello sonatas the audience would
gaze at the screen think
appropriate expressions of praise then
leave

Poet's Biography:

;

Joel's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in print and electronic magazines such as The Seneca Review, The Connecticut Poetry Review, Crazy Horse, Kudos (England), Recursive Angel, Highbeams, and many others. He is the author of several books of poetry, including The Harp Beyond the Wall, Red Ghost (which won the first Persephone Press Book Award and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in that same year), Twentieth Century Deaths, and The Melancholy of Yorick and maggnummappuss (nominated for a 1998 Pushcart Prize). He is a jazz pianist, a teacher, and is the poetry editor for the print journal Antietam Review and for the electronic journal 5_Trope.