Julian Gallo's Divertimiento

Julian Gallo’s chapbook, Divertimiento, is book ten in Alternating Current’s Propaganda Press’ Pocket Protector Book series. Julian Gallo hails from New York and is a writer/painter/musician with quite a few publications under his belt including A Symphony of Olives that was also featured previously on this blog. His current collection of poems published by Alternating Current is a biting and despondent view of the world. Below I will feature several poems that caught my eye:

Gulag

I may be eaten by butterflies when the
revolution begins.
How cold is the touch of the female
hand
when it’s apparent that she doesn’t
want you?
It might feel like freezer burn, but the
revolution is circular
and constant; kicking up clumps of dirt
into your face.
I hear Russians outside, arguing. Over
what, I don’t know?
But the revolution didn’t work for
them either and, like myself,
sometimes feel as though I’ve been
cast into a spiritual gulag…
waiting…always waiting…

I may be kissed by mollusks when the
revolution begins.
How cold is the touch of humanity
when it’s apparent that its nothing of
the kind.
Better wake up and look out the
window again;
there’s nothing out there but bare trees
and broken spirits…
waiting…always waiting…

What grabbed my attention are the strange things that eat away at the poet, such as butterflies and mollusks, how even the small things may get to him before “the revolution begins.” Although I am not sure what sort of revolution the poet is anticipating, the here and now is depicted as cold and heartless, by touch of woman, by touch of humanity. I’m curious to know what kind of revolution Mr. Gallo is searching for?


Bound For Glory

Never have
I felt
so strange,
tired, lost.
The wheels
of change
spin –
Bound for
glory but
lost without
a map.

I enjoy this poem because I think it can be applied personally and universally to any who read it. Whether an individual, a society, or a country strives for “Glory” there are many confusing obstacles that can make one or all lose their way and there is never a set of step-by-step rules for achieving the goal of “Glory.”


Dogma

Words come off like bombs –
blind, blind, so blind…
The answers are always easy
and nothing is beyond the narrow
parameters in which you see life
in all its black and white glory…
Opening up is beyond comprehension;
after all, you know all.
I want to drop to my knees
and partake in your infinite
knowledge;
passed on like a missile with no
guidance
and into the heart of empty space
only to be lost, without direction;
an education wasted and strewn about
like confetti.
But the only thing that I know for
certain
is that you really know nothing at all.

This poem could easily have been titled “Know-It-All” because that’s what leaps to my mind immediately. This type of person being described is one we are all too familiar with. Someone whose “words come off like bombs” is a great way to describe the unwanted and unexpected advice or repartee of a person who thinks they always have the answers no matter how limited their life experience. I like that the ending points out that the “education” is “wasted” and that the person really knows nothing at all. This type of poem is always fun to read and write, to use defiance through the written word.


If you enjoyed this sample you can purchase a copy Diveritimiento for yourself at Alternating Current for $3.00 (+2$ US shipping or $3 out-of-US shipping) at:

http://alt-current.com

or you may mail a check made out to Alternating Current along with a note specifying which chapbook to:

Alternating Current
PO Box 398058
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA

Thanks always for reading, please click in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…