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One of the many characters in Davis Square, Somerville was poet Ricardo Fitten. He used to sell me a poem for a buck, – three for two dollars – outside the Diesel Cafe. He was a former scientist, worked at Mass General Hospital, but fell on hard times. We published a number of poems of his in the Wilderness House Literary Review and in the Bagel Bards anthology. He was adopted by many of the artists and folks who hang in the Square. He died of lung cancer this Saturday. God Bless.
Life Gives Us Surprises
“Dare to groan, Oh lithe flesh
of timber, you must twist and untwist.”
Charms-Paul Valery
We are travelers on sun-baked roads
and wet pavements, where our paths turn
upon us, with time, to make us relics.
But there are fragments of perfection
to keep us curious, packets of thoughts
and feelings to quench every craving;
water to ice, rhythm in sound
and meaning in person.
The flesh as the fruit in molecules,
grown on bones and seeds that are
themselves molecules, a united variety
of atoms dancing in space.
I bow to the colors of rainbows
and races; air into water, mud into faces,
and wonder who arranged the genes
and its changes, while she questions
in a dream, how it ever got so crazy.
We daze in rituals and institutions,
then drop into earth with a thud,
silent and cold, to become fossilized
and formicate.
of timber, you must twist and untwist.”
Charms-Paul Valery
We are travelers on sun-baked roads
and wet pavements, where our paths turn
upon us, with time, to make us relics.
But there are fragments of perfection
to keep us curious, packets of thoughts
and feelings to quench every craving;
water to ice, rhythm in sound
and meaning in person.
The flesh as the fruit in molecules,
grown on bones and seeds that are
themselves molecules, a united variety
of atoms dancing in space.
I bow to the colors of rainbows
and races; air into water, mud into faces,
and wonder who arranged the genes
and its changes, while she questions
in a dream, how it ever got so crazy.
We daze in rituals and institutions,
then drop into earth with a thud,
silent and cold, to become fossilized
and formicate.
***********
But birth is hopeful, smiles enchanting,
and crying cleanses the soul; and to all,
we frown and laugh, because departing is
sad and arriving is happy, alternating
our love, I believe, why should I grieve?
Life gives us surprises,
surprises give us life
— Ricard O. Fitten
Published in the Wilderness House Literary Review
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