A DAY IS NOT A DAY

by Erin Murphy

AI-generated image by imbox sanothai via Dreamstime

“House Republican leaders on [March 11, 2025] quietly moved to shield their members from having to vote on whether to end President Trump’s tariffs… essentially [declaring] the rest of the year one long day.” —The New York Times

A day is not a day.

A night is not a night.

A star is not a star.

Sunrise is not sunrise.

Rain is not rain.

A robin is not a robin.

A song is not a song.

Darkness is not dark.

 

Reality is not real

and neither is steam

from a whistling teakettle

or the smell of fresh basil

on your fingers

hours after you make pesto

or the calligraphy

of hoof prints in virgin snow

or the neon cotton candy

of northern lights

in Zion National Park.

 

Hunger is not hunger.

A lie is not a lie.

A gun is not a gun.

Fear is not fear.

A deported neighbor

was never here at all,

never taught your son

to dribble a fútbol

in the alley between

your homes.

 

Silence is not silence.

 

A day is not a day.

A year is not a year.

A lifetime is not a life.

 

A kiss is just a kiss,

Dooley Wilson sang

in Casablanca.

But a kiss is not a kiss.

It didn’t lead to love

or lust, not even for

your parents which means,

of course, you don’t exist.

You could tell your analyst

but your analyst is not

an analyst. And no matter

what he says, a cigar

is not a cigar.

 

A poem is not a poem.

Ce n'est pas un poème.

A rose is not a rose is not

a rose is not a rose. We are

not who we think we are.

Erin Murphy’s latest book of poetry is Fluent in Blue (Grayson Books, 2024). She is professor of English at Penn State Altoona and serves as Poetry Editor of The Summerset Review.

FOR GERTRUDE STEIN

On the Occasion of Her Birthday. Born February 3, 1874

by Earl J Wilcox

Dear Ms. Stein, Ms.Stein:

After all these yearly years,

(148 to be exactly exact)

We still adore, do adore

Your overdone style style

Especially the way you gave

Us the glory of the rose,

(is a rose, is a rose, is a rose).

A rose is still a rose. And

To you, Ms. Stein, we deeply

Appreciate, still appreciate,

Your honest eye, strict

Causes for literary finesse,

Always and forever, and

Ever after, this Rose for you

On your One Hundred Forty-Eighth

Birthday.

 

 

Writing in South Carolina, Earl Wilcox recently published some baseball poetry, plus poems relating to his memoir, and the weather. He has about 60 years left to catch Gertrude Stein. 

STATE OF THE UNION: A DIALECTIC

by Karren LaLonde Alenier

with “IN BETWEEN” from Tender Buttons: Objects by Gertrude Stein

In between a place and candy

                                                crush

is a narrow footpath that

                                          ran to a sham self-clapping presi-

shows more mounting

                                     dent more shame

than anything, so much really that a

                                                            stormy

calling meaning a bolster measured

                                                           six inches

a whole thing with that.

                                       and could it be

A virgin a whole virgin is judged

                                                       ass not candy catcher

made and so between

                                    soft puta

curves and

                    hard cógeme duro

outlines and real

                           ITY

seasons and more

                              spies look-

out glasses and a perfectly

                                            candy-assed

unprecedented arrangement between old

                                                                   soldier

ladies and mild

                          wall-less

colds there is no satin

                                     sheet no

wood

         pecker

shining.

Karren LaLonde Alenier is author of seven collections of poetry, including Looking for Divine Transportation, winner of the 2002 Towson University Prize for Literature and her latest collection The Anima of Paul Bowles. Her poetry and fiction have been published in such magazines as Mississippi Review, Jewish Currents, and Poet Lore. Her opera Gertrude Stein Invents a Jump Early On with composer William Banfield premiered by Encompass New Opera Theatre in New York City June 2005. For Scene4 Magazine she writes a monthly column about Gertrude Stein and the arts called “The Steiny Road to Operadom.”