Two Poems

Carol Dorf

Like Happiness, And It Will Not Stand *

Happiness refuses to stand still for
dissection -- though really, what does? Those poor

rabbits were anesthetized and tied down,
so the lab coats could watch blood flow through

the arteries of their hearts. But return
to ordinary happiness -- Is it tied

to the heart, blind clench and release, auto-
matic until the end. Joy is episodic,

the way the first chocolate truffle, far
exceeds the next. Chocolate and exercise

improve the heart. Does love lead to joy, or
its converse, laundry spilling onto the floor.

Those rabbits could care less about our hearts,
intact sacs of muscle beating patterns, life.

* This title is from a line by George Oppen in the poem "Leviathan"

***

Night Taxonomy

Night narrates drama --
backfires into gunshots or
the other way around.
Measure truth by sirens.

Open another landscape,
seascape: the pier at dusk
lines of nightfishers fade
motorboats seek harbor.

Old people and small children
awaken for water for contact
switch on a radio
for talk through darkness.

Small bursts of light dream
behind closed lids.
In the Night Museum mazes
lead from one tableau to the next.

Heavy fog washes away notes
scrawled in water soluble ink.

Carol Dorf’s poems have appeared in A Cappella Zoo, Naugatuck River Review, Feminist Studies, Fringe, The Midway, Poemeleon, Moira, RUNES, and 13th Moon. They have been anthologized in Not a Muse, Boomer Girls, and elsewhere. She’s taught in a variety of venues including Berkeley City College, a science museum, and as a California Poet in the Schools and at a large, urban, High School. Her poetry column “Music of Fragments,” appears in the Women’s Review of Books blog.

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