summer. I served time
I tried to unbend. I tried
to sew the figleaf back on
autumn. I dedicated the moon.
I saw it blossom like a de-
generate calf. I tried to laugh
spring. I went walking
I went to the movies, anticipating.
I tried to keep warm.
winter. I prayed to the sun.
I prayed to the moon.
I tried to keep warm.
Poet and filmmaker Frank Kuenstler (1928-1996) was the author of Lens (1964), Selected Poems (1964), Paradise News (1966), Fugitives. Rounds (1966), 13½ Poems (1984), Continued (1987), Miscellany (1987), In Which (1994), and The Seafarer, B.Q.E., and Other Poems (1996). Today, three volumes of Kuenstler’s work are still in print, including The Enormous Chorus (Pressed Wafer, 2011), from which this selection was drawn. Thanks to Nico Alvarado, Emily Kuenstler, and William Corbett for allowing Petri Press to aid in their efforts to revitalize public interest in a great poet.
