Istanbul Literary Review - September 2011 Edition (#21)

Whether to Laugh or Cry

David Stanford Burr

I see your blonde hair in the theater
emblem of first magnitude, prime mover,
more to it than meets sight for my sore eyes,
where have you been (sour grapes) all my lives?
I see moons (nudge nudge) in your blue sweater:
I’m old as your father and know better
but would give my back teeth to be younger,
my sauce good for us, both goose and gander.
I’m victim of your small, tender mercies
imagined in my pre-mid-life crises,
but my old cold feet, your young cold shoulder,
our frozen good turns deserve each other.

David Stanford Burr

USA

David Stanford Burr is a managing editor at St. Martin’s Press and a professor at New York University, where he teaches poetry writing workshops. He is the Barnes & Noble poetry series editor for poetry anthologies and the author of The Poet’s Notebook: Inspiration, Techniques, and Advice on Craft. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Barrow Street, The Kean Review, Manhattan Literary Review, Lips, and in several anthologies. David also edits poetry manuscript for major New York City book publishing companies.

Istanbul Literary Review - September 2011 Edition (#21)