SurVision Magazine
An international online magazine
that publishes Surrealist poetry in English.
Issue Eleven
IAN GANASSI
Don't Look Back
Not many of them made it out;
There was too much to be said.
It breaks me up the way you break me up.
And don't look back.
Who keeps saying that?
"It goes without saying that you will take care of your children."
But not every parent does.
To varying degrees.
I wouldn't want it.
And there he sat,
Spinning his tale into a two-toned sweater.
"Just wait till I finish this sweater," he said.
We have to keep going –
Away, away.
And never look back.
Who keeps saying that?
In the background flutes and bells accompany the Morris dancers.
Beware startled investments at half-price.
I remember.
But there's no "I" in it.
Don't let that discourage you.
I cannot tell a lie;
I cut down my father's cherry tree.
And we hoped to find you in the fields.
"Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"
"Two hips make an ass."
And don't look back.
Whoever keeps saying that,
The reply continues slipping out of sight,
Into the future, anticipating a fight.
I'm not looking forward to it any more than you are.
Ian Ganassi is from Connecticut. His work has appeared recently, or will appear soon, in New American Writing, Blazevox, The American Journal of Poetry, Book of Matches, and Meniscus. His first full length collection, Mean Numbers, was published by Isolibris/China Grove Press in 2016. His new collection, True for the Moment, will be published next year by WordTech.
