A Tribute to the Penguin-Men Among Us by Stephen Anderson

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A Tribute to the Penguin-Men Among Us
by
Stephen Anderson

who huddle around watching their young ones

take to the ice like the wobbly creatures they are

at outdoor school rinks now lent to these

bundled-up fathers who shift from side to side

and huddle together to stay warm like

looming Emperor Penguins,

while dutifully standing vigil for their

offspring who careen wildly but then

glide like pros for up-to-seconds-at-a-time before

spiraling into impromptu, shaky pirouettes

that cause the men to gasp from the sidelines,

then fake-skate with their shoes

over to the crash site where they whisper

their concern and, upon further triage,

encourage their fallen angels to right their little

skates on the ice, to again take on the

wintry reality of the late afternoon,

with their chins held high to the glory of

the Penguin-Men in attendance.

This poem first appeared in New Purlieu Review.
Used here with the author’s permission.

Stephen Anderson is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin poet and translator whose award-winning work has appeared in numerous print and online journals and has been featured on the Milwaukee NPR affiliate, WUWM Lake Effect Program. Stephen is the author of three chapbooks and three full length collections, and several of his poems formed the text for a song cycle in The Privileged Secrets of the Arch, a chamber music composition performed by members of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and an opera singer. A fourth poetry collection, On the Third Planet from the Sun: New and Selected Poems, is forthcoming in the summer of 2024 (Kelsay Books). Stephen’s work is being archived in the Stephen Anderson Collection in the Raynor Libraries at Marquette University.

pwax:
What a wonderful picture you paint,Stephen! And I loved "glide like pros for up-to-seconds-at-a-time." Perfect!
Posted 01/19/2014 07:00 PM

anne.lehman2929@att.net:
I love the subtle, "upon further triage," that shows the "Emperor Penguins'" real duty--to protect their little "egg." This is a great poem with wonderful imagery.
Posted 01/19/2014 04:26 PM

erinsnana:
That is the best run-on sentence I've ever seen! Hilarious!
Posted 01/19/2014 04:55 AM

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