Just Like Brian Wilson

by Marc Jampole

DO NOT believe in kings.

When others sing, In Jerusalem next year,

shunning David’s city, chant instead

Wherever you want to be:

in Paris or another European hub

studying the texture of paint under glass,

in the dust behind the plate, mask on,

in movement eyes closed swinging free

above the games and funnel cake,

swatting back half-budded branches

in the sound of boots slogging,

well-oiled, feet in sand, adrift in a book of lust,

or behind the closed door of a small room

overlooking a large view of the world

well-lit walls cluttered with fragments

hunched on a slightly hard chair

by the tools you need to think about things.

Marc Jampole, a member of our editorial board, is the author of the poetry book, Music from Words. This poem was published in A Poet’s Haggadah (2008, Beyond Baroque Literary Center).