Tuesday 5 May 2020

2 Poems by Milton P. Ehrlich

A SEASONED PROFESSOR GOES FOR A STROLL IN OAKLAND


He’s intrigued

by the many shades of skin,

having published papers

forecasting the future

of a world population

with coffee-colored skin.

He’s well aware of how

institutionalized racism

makes people of color

sometimes want to be

whiter than white,

even with a hue of blue.

He himself prefers light

dark skin, like Lena Horne.

When 2 young women

pass by with his preferred

skin color, he fantasies

about how much they

might want to spend

a night in bed with him.



MISCHEVIOUS BLISS


When she spreads her legs,

he wanders in.

It’s a safe place to call home,

somewhere he hasn’t been

since his life began.

Like the music of his youth,

Pack up your troubles

in your old kit-bag

and smile, smile, smile.

Ontogeny recapitulates

phylogeny.


Bionote

Milton P. Ehrlich Ph.D. is an 87- year-old psychologist and a veteran of the Korean War. He has published many poems in periodicals such as the London Grip, Arc Poetry Magazine, Descant Literary Magazine, Wisconsin Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Christian Science Monitor, and the New York Times.

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