By W. S. Di Piero
Use me
Abuse me
Turn wheels of fire
on manhole hotheads
Sing me
Sour me
Secrete dark matter’s sheen
on our smarting skin
Rise and shine
In puddle shallows
under every Meryl Cheryl Caleb Syd
somnambulists and sleepyheads
Wake us
Speak to us
Bless what you’ve nurtured in your pits
the rats voles roaches and all outlivers
of your obscene ethic and politics
Crawl on us
Fall on us
you elevations that break and vein
down to sulfuric fiber-optic wrecks
through drill-bit dirt to bedrock
Beat our brows
Flee our sorrows
Sleep tight with your ultraviolets
righteous mica and drainage seeps
your gorgeous color-chart container ships
and cab-top numbers squinting in the mist
Source: Poetry (June 2009)
Poet Bio
W. S. Di Piero was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and received his bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s College and his master’s degree from San Francisco State College. He has also had a long teaching career at such universities as Louisiana State University, Northwestern University, and Stanford University, where he still teaches. Di Piero was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001. He often writes about growing up in his neighborhood of South Philadelphia, and the Italian-American working class families who largely populated the area.
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