Poem of the Week: Tim Seibles

                              

   

   

Zombie Blues Villanelle 

There are days I believe there ain' nothing to fear

I perk up for green lights, my engine on call

But it could be the zombies are already near

That sleep that we feed every day of the year

What's up with your friends when they circle the mall?

There are nights when I think I have no one to fear

My Mom watches Oprah to brighten the drear

You can keep your eyes open, see nothing at all

But it might be the zombies are already near

You think life is s'posed to be lived in this gear?

I been askin' that question till my brain has gone raw

Certain days I believed I had nothing to fear

I have dreams that I'm driving with no way to steer

You can growl like a cello; you can chat like a doll

Don't it seem like the zombies are already here?

I think fear itself is a whole lot to fear

I have watched CNN till it made my skin crawl

I might be a zombie that's already here

I been pounding this door but don' nobody hear

You can drink till you think that you're seven feet tall

There were midnights I danced without nothin' to fear

You can fly through your days until time is a smear

Maybe blaze up the bong   or blog out a blog

There'll be days when it feels like there's nothing to fear

But you could be a zombie    that's already here.

 

-Tim Seibles 

  

Used by permission. 

Born in Philadelphia in 1955, Tim Seibles currently lives in Norfolk, Virginia. He is a member of the English Department and MFA in Writing faculty of Old Dominion University, and is a teaching board member of the Muse Writers Workshop. His honors include an Open Voice Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. His poems have been published in literary journals and magazines including Callaloo, The Kenyon Review, Indiana Review, Ploughshares, Electronic Poetry Review, and Rattle, among others. Seibles is the author of five books of poetry, including Fast Animal (Etruscan Press 2012), 2012 National Book Award Finalist. He will be a featured poet at Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness 2014.    

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