3 Poems by Joseph Lisowski

CIRCUMCISION

Blood spots
Inside
The circle

Of life,
A triangle
Circumscribed,

An incision
Worthy
Of the five

Wounds
Of Christ
Sanguine Christi

The pain
Of sacrifice,
Deliverance.

Is this
The price
Of hope?


FAMILY TALK

Lost eyes,
Fire
Masks,

A tongue
That spits
Blood

Daggers
That slice
Breath.

Who wins
In this
Heartache?

No ease
No words
No comfort

But knives
Wounds
Flame.


SPIRIT LOVE

Yesterday we dreamed
Angels,
Comforters

Of our nights
Shaken by dread
Alone.

What escape
Is beyond quivering?
A torch

Of flesh
Close
To touch

That licks
Passion
In crevices

Dark
Beyond
Desire.

Who can
Question that?


Bionote

Joseph Lisowski was Professor of English at the University of the Virgin Islands and at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina.. Some poetry chapbooks include Stashu Kapinski Strikes Out (Rank Stranger Press), Fatherhood at Fifty (Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry), Sketches of an Island Life (dpi press), Art Lessons (Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry), Letters to Wang Wei (Pudding House Press), and Stashu Kapinski Looks for Love (erbacce-press, UK).

After growing up under the shadow of Heppenstall Steel Mill in Pittsburgh, Pa., Joseph Lisowski has spent much of his life near the sea, including 10 years in St. Thomas, VI., which serves as the setting for his three published mystery novels, FULL BODY RUB, LOOKING FOR LISA, and LOOKING FOR LAUREN.

He won the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Teacher of the Year Award (2013-2014).  His most recent full length book is STASHU KAPINSKI DREAMS OF GLORY (Sweatshoppe Publications, 2013).