Looking for an Eye

Fumbling in the dark, always looking
     for an eye, he hurls stones
at his shadow. Voices startle him.
     A stranger keeps stalking.
Each time he seems to see,
     a finger gets poked in his eye.
He sits on beach steps head against hands.
     A child comes up to him.
Can I help you, Mister?
     Saying No thanks,
he stares at the Atlantic

then gets up, drifts among
     the noises on the boardwalk,
shouts of vendors barking,
     Be a Winner! Take a Chance!
All you need is change!
      Listens to the laughter, jangle of coins,
amusement rides, roller coaster, fun of lovers.
     Passes couples holding hands.
Watch the tram car, please,
a recorded voices shrills out,
     Watch the tram car, please…
Dragging questions he walks
     on through the night.

Margaret at the Office

Margaret did her duty for thirty years
then crossed the time she decided
was enough. And left. No fuss.
Just an empty cubicle, uncluttered desk,
random papers, a space no longer hers.

I hardly knew her—
a tall woman, platinum blonde, sincere,
shy supervisor. An 8x10 photo
of her shih tzu and bearded collie
lay framed on her grey desk. She spoke
about the labor in their grooming.
I shared the wallet snapshot of my boxer.
On weekdays she had someone
walk her dogs and feed them.

Then she was gone. The day
after Memorial Day she left.
Left without a word. Now
a different face is here. Soon
I’ll not be here. The many times
I see me going that way. First
a lingering, then gone. Something
in her absence doesn’t go away.

Peter Krok is the editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal and serves as the humanities/poetry director of the Manayunk Art Center where he has coordinated a literary series since 1990. Because of his identification with row house and red brick Philadelphia, he is often referred to as “the red brick poet.” His poems have appeared in the Yearbook of American Poetry, America, Mid-America Poetry Review, Midwest Quarterly, Poet Lore, Potomac Review, Blue Unicorn and numerous other print and on-line journals. In 2005 his poem “10 PM At a Philadelphia Recreation Center” was included in Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (published by Penn State University). His book, Looking For An Eye, was published by Foothills Press in 2007.