ISSUE III
Bart Edelman
DEAD ON ARRIVAL
As if it had a life,
As if it had a home,
As if it had a destination.
As if it arrived by bus,
As if it arrived by train,
As if it arrived by air.
As if it knew its name,
As if it knew its number,
As if it knew its rank.
As if it spoke in nonsense,
As if it spoke in tongues,
As if it spoke in blood.
As if it begged for time,
As if it begged for love,
As if it begged for mercy.
As if its code were black.
As if its code were red.
As if its code were blue.
Bart Edelman’s poetry collections include Crossing the Hackensack (Prometheus Press), Under Damaris’ Dress (Lightning Publications), The Alphabet of Love (Red Hen Press), The Gentle Man (Red Hen Press), The Last Mojito (Red Hen Press), The Geographer’s Wife (Red Hen Press), and Whistling to Trick the Wind (Meadowlark Press). He has taught at Glendale College, where he edited Eclipse, a literary journal, and, most recently, in the MFA program at Antioch University, Los Angeles. His work has been widely anthologized in textbooks published by City Lights Books, Etruscan Press, Fountainhead Press, Harcourt Brace, Longman, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, Simon & Schuster, Thomson/Heinle, the University of Iowa Press, Wadsworth, and others. He lives in Pasadena, California.