Different Slants

Seeing the World from a New Angle

My Left Hand: Blue Veins Swollen Like the Louisiana Delta

                      by Robert M. Katzman © August 28, 2019

 

My left hand

Worn and wrinkled

Swollen Blue Veins like

The Louisiana Delta

Fueling its strength

Has been burn

Broken

Held thousands of dollars

And been penny-less

*

A sometimes bloodied fist
Held a paint brush
A hammer
A baby 
A pen 
Changed a tire 
A diaper 
Held a dog 
Wiped away tears 
Been expressive without words 
Clicked a shutter 
Unrolled a Torah
Lit candles
Offered a ring in marriage
Caressed a beautiful woman’s face 
Both in love and after she died 
Then it planted 
A tree to remember her

*
Yet when it opens 
My window shade 
Every morning 
When I look for 
Beams of warm sunlight to
Pour into me 
and 
Jolt my confused heart 
Fluttering back to life 
And I wonder
Still believing 
Still hoping 
That anything
Anything 
Remains possible

***

This poem was inspired by my driving from Racine, Wisconsin to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming and back, frequently noticing my worn and wrinkled left hand, for about 5,000 miles. I decided to turn the merry-go-round of swirling words inside my mind into a poem, so I could rest.

Three months later I met Nancy Alexander online and in a cafe on November 19, 2019. We were married on May 15, 2022.                                 Things can seem so black, so hopeless, and then miracles happen to make your heart happy again. In a month our first anniversary wll happen.

***

Publishing News! 

Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart  and Vol. Two: Fighting Words

Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history about one man’s life than a person may imagine.

Please visit my new website: http://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.

Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:

Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.

Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998                                                                                                                    (262)752-3333, 8AM–7PM

Books cost $29.95 each, plus shipping

I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.

2 Comments »

Comment by Jim Payne

August 29, 2019 @ 6:03 pm

Bob, Your hand, your life, traveling through the album of events that photograph your life and now searching for what you hope for. You are searching.

Comment by Doris Dix Caruso

January 25, 2020 @ 9:46 am

I relate..neaaring 92. I am a novel writer and a poet. Books published. I enjoy your writing. DDC

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