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      February 1, 2017PianoMichael Estes

      What’s played with the left
      hand doesn’t change much. Samson
      likewise was known to beat
       
      to death the same man every
      time. In his head
      he dressed them differently,
       
      accessorized. That one had
      a lisp. That one wore
      one sandal, and it was the covetous
       
      glance he shot Samson’s
      pair that killed him.
      Another one had fought, bit
       
      Samson’s finger as Samson’s
      hand slid down his face
      to his throat. Few men escape
       
      doubt, and Samson thought
      as his blood entered the man’s
      mouth about his own dad’s
       
      hands, and belt, come son
      and be a carpenter, for
      years the same three notes. Samson
       
      was not a carpenter. He raised
      the man off the ground, hands
      coming together at the throat.
       
      It was neither prayer
      nor penance, and no one
      walks around in one sandal.

      from #54 - Winter 2016

      Michael Estes

      “Thank goodness for poems and their ability to be ‘raids on the inarticulate,’ in the words of Eliot. I write poems to see what words can do, which turns out to be just about anything.”