found poem: every day

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

found poem: A dawn

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

This poem was published in Otoliths, Issue 42

found poem: in the poem

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

symbol

An engineer by training and trade, my father had a firm grasp on reality. He was practical and believed that problems had solutions. He had a fierce work ethic and great determination. At the same time, he was willing to entertain — on an intellectual level — all manner of thought. He was a voracious and eclectic reader and enjoyed pondering the mysteries of the universe.

Among the mysteries that intrigued him were symbols of all sorts. He studied them, sketched them and, eventually, carved them. He had little use for astrology, but its symbols were among those that interested him and when he was about 60 he began sculpting his way through the zodiac.

On my 22nd birthday, he gave me this Pisces sculpture. Balanced on a steel strap above a marble base, the piece stands about 21 inches high. The pair of sanded-to-a-gloss fishes — lemon and orange wood, according to his notes — leap from a teak sea.

Though years, and my father, have passed, and the wood has darkened slightly, the sculpture remains to remind me of his engineer’s precision, his wide-ranging mind…and his love.

One!

What an honor to have my poem “The Familiar” selected for publication in the online journal One. The Jacar Press publication considers just one submission from each poet (most publications request three or more). My poem is just below the Contents list for One Issue 8.

found poem: sound

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

Mr Popper & Myself

My mother is perhaps 13 in this small photo. It’s the mid-1920s and she’s looking a little flapperish.

On the back of the photo is written, “To Dorothy From Margaret West.” Perhaps on this spring day in Milwaukee Margaret and Dorothy dressed up and went to a party, or the silent pictures. On the way home they encountered the local constabulary, Mr. Popper, and Dorothy asked Margaret to take her photo. The ever-accommodating Mr. Popper is mildly amused.

Dorothy is holding a newspaper, part hanging down and part flipped up across her chest. Maybe there’s something noteworthy in the paper — something about Dorothy herself, or her school, or her father.

Or perhaps there’s no story, just a record of a moment when a girl shows a new composure, a new self-awareness, when grooming is not simply a matter of complying with Mother’s instructions, but a tiny and newly discovered window into self-expression.

found poem: shy

found poem © j.i. kleinberg
published in Utsanga

found poem: heart

found poem © j.i. kleinberg
published in Indefinite Space, 2020, Volume XXVIII

found poem: as if

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

found poem: Earth

found poem © j.i. kleinberg
published in Otoliths 56

found poem: I am

found poem © j.i. kleinberg
published in Biscuit Hill, Issue 3

found poem: I FOUND

found poem © j.i. kleinberg
published in Red Wolf Editions

found poem: the rain

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

This poem was published in Otoliths, Issue 42

found poem: your childhood

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

found poem: hours

found poem © j.i. kleinberg
published in Epigraph Magazine, Issue 16

found poem: your ideas

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

found poem: the excellent

found poem © j.i. kleinberg
published in Star 82 Review, Issue 6.4

found poem: above

found poem © j.i. kleinberg

found poem: dissolving

found poem © j.i. kleinberg