POETRY BY RUSSEL WINICK

Russel Winick studied poetry for two weeks at age 14 as part of a high school English class, and then decided to try writing poetry fifty years later, at age 64, after concluding a long career as a business attorney and litigator. Langston Hughes and Dorothy Parker are among his foremost poetic influences. He and his wife reside in Naperville, Illinois.

NO EXCUSES

I sent a text to someone,
Who vowed to call that day.
As usual he didn’t,
Why are some folks that way?

He did call two weeks later,
Apologized to me.
Said he had no excuses,
Then promptly offered three.

FORGIVENESS

Forgiveness often is presented
As an absolute.
The only option for the righteous,
All exceptions moot.

But when your image suffers
From a fraudulent attack,
What role can pure forgiveness play
If you’re forced to fight back?

AFFECTATIONS

He cannot believe
The number of times
That people say things
The reasons for which
Are not on the surface
As that would be tacky
And surely denied,
Because what it’s really
Is bragging or ego
In flaunting their knowledge
Or stressing success
By critiquing, explaining
Sometimes even thanking
The true point of which
Is abundantly clear
As of course is the goal,
And he’d be quite repulsed
If he wasn’t so guilty.

DON’T LET ME DRIVE

She told her kids that when she reached the point
Where she could not drive safely—let her know!
And was so proud of her unselfish wisdom,
She mentioned it to all, with quite a show.

When heart disorders caused her to have blackouts,
Her kids said: “Mom—you should no longer drive!”
But notwithstanding all her prior bragging,
She balked, like that would make her not alive.

Upset about the dangerous deception,
Her kids to set her straight so often tried,
But fortunately she caused no collisions,
The day she had a heart attack and died.