Two Poems
by Leah Umansky
Ars Poetica with a Comet and Bob’s Burgers
Writing is a companion to life
If we can listen, the page
Will show us a version of our best
Self, our best language, memories.
I try to trust the universe,
I try to trust my instincts,
And sometimes I fail,
But that means — I tried;
I am trying.
*
On Bob’s Burgers, Teddy tells Bob
the universe talks to us, and urges
The Belchers to come with him
To the state park to see the first comet
Sighting in thirty years. Teddy wants
And dreams, and strives to have better luck
For the next thirty, since the last thirty haven’t been
Great for him. Most viewers see him as pathetic, a loser,
But I see the hope in him; the want for love, adventure, and life.
The Belcher kids are excited to write wishes on paper
And watch them burn up into the sky, but mostly they are
Excited to not be in the restaurant working.
Of course, Bob is skeptical of it all. He can’t believe
In signs or things he can’t see. He only sees:
Coincidence, decisions and choice.
(But I think there is so much we don’t see, can’t see.)
After the comet combs through the sky, Bob sees
A single seal come out of the ocean, staring at him.
Bob feels what he can’t explain. Bob feels the universe.
He runs to find Teddy, screaming about the unknown:
Maybe it’s up to us to figure out what they mean.
It is up to us; like so much of our life is.
There are choices you make, and those
You don’t. Everything guides us to something,
Or another. Every memory, even those forgotten,
influence our behavior, our life, our choices, our poems.
Poem in Which I Watch Field of Dreams for the First Time and Can’t Stop Laughing
for Scott
Leah Umansky is a writer, educator, and artist in New York City. She is the author of the forthcoming memoir, Delicate Machine (Dzanc Books, 2027), and six books of poetry, including the forthcoming collection, Ordinary Splendor (Etruscan Press, 2028). Her most recent collection is Of Tyrant (Word Works Books, 2024). She earned her MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and has curated The COUPLET Reading Series in NYC since 2011. Her creative work has been featured on PBS and The Slowdown Podcast, and in such places as The New York Times, The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A Day, The Nation and American Poetry Review. Her favorite pizza topping is buffalo chicken or sausage.
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