BEN RASNIC - POEMS

Ben Rasnic has authored four volumes of poetry: "Artifacts and Legends", "Puppet", "Synchronicity" and "The Eleventh Month".
He currently resides in Bowie, Maryland.

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                                    Billy                                                    
                                                                                     for Billy Watson
 
 
                                  Billy always enjoyed my poetry.
                                  "Your stuff makes me laugh,
                                  he would say."
                                                                               
                                  So when Billy’s English assignment
                                  was to read a poem to the class,
                                  he chose my poem “Roast Beef”--
               
                                  “Cold roast beef on a Sunday afternoon
                                   smells like a fart
                                   In the summertime.”
 
                                   Billy never did
                                   make good grades.
 
 

                                          Treasures
                        
                                                                
                My 9 year-old self
                pedals a fire engine red
                Schwinn, Topps bubblegum cards
                sputtering in the spokes;
 
                clothes-pinned images
                of Maris & Mantle, Aaron & Mays;
                all my favorites clattering madly
                streaking down R.E.A. hill.
 
                Had I cataloged these
                straight from the wrapper,
                sheathed in clear plastic sleeves
                I’d be counting
                my Ben Franklins.
 
                Instead, I’m flipping through coupons
                pushing a rickety old shopping cart
                click clacking down aisle five,
                grinning like a 9 year-old.