MEANDERING POEMS

As a kind of exercise I've been experimenting
with light-hearted poems that slide from one
notation to another in pursuit of play on
sober "commentary."

I think such poems are likely the work of my
heteronym ZAYRE KASERLA, whose single
publication -- THE COMPLETE POEMS OF
ZAYRE KASERLA BY BARRY SPACKS --
may someday appear.

An example:


WATER

What is this thing about water? it's all over the place.
When they worry about Mars it's always
"Is there water?"

Consider how everybody would lighten up
if they'd hush about the sea, la mar
touched by moonlight,

or just stopped saying
"Much of our bodies are water"
or "Water finds its own level." This is true,

and there's washing of various body parts
to account for the stuff's popularity,
plus, come to think of it, cataracts

and wells and rafting
and have I mentioned kayaks?
all of these would go unsung, so maybe

it's asking too much to shut up about water,
for it's hard to imagine a single comment
about Hawaii surviving if we went that way.