Poet of the Month: “Metal Ice Cream” by Aleksander Zywicki

Y.E.

There is no consolation
like the enjoyment of music,
no greater cause for selfishness,
no better balm for the failure
of family than to break time;
remember, draw the sun
into the sea, forgo the bitter
business of seasons, abandon
all other appetites but to listen
with a handful of borrowed
dollars to the ice cream truck
play its tinny calliope tune
as it glides the seething
summer streets—we were
kids. Happiness was easy.

Aleksander Zywicki is a first-year MFA candidate at The New School. He teaches AP English Literature in Bayonne, New Jersey. He lives & writes in Jersey City.