Paul Hostovsky- Three Poems

Precedent

She threatened to sue him over his sonnet

for libel. Because he used her real name

in his poem about the good old days

when she was bad and beautiful. He went

into such poetic detail in the second half

of the octave, that the reader felt a sweet

gasp in the loins to read it. But he told her

he would be honored—it was quite the turn—

to be sued over a sonnet. Maybe it would set

a precedent. Maybe it would make him

famous. Then he argued that the poem praised

rather than defamed her, that if read properly

she was its hero, and that though he published it

in a magazine, they never paid him a cent.

Science

We’re doing the Periodic Table

of Elements and Mia got Aluminum.

I wanted Aluminum. I'm mad at Mia now

for taking Aluminum when she didn't

even want it. Not the way I did.

I really, really wanted Aluminum.

Because I like its name and its atomic

number. Which is 13. Instead I got Boron

which is boring and rhymes with 'moron'

and I just know somebody is going to

think of that. And everybody has to fit

their Element on an 8 x 5 index card,

with its name and chemical symbol

and atomic number on the front, and the story

of how it got discovered or isolated

on the back. Aluminum's chemical symbol

is Al, which looks like A-one, like A-plus

one. But Boron's chemical symbol is just B

which is blah, and its atomic weight is 11

which is the age of my older brother Josh

who's mean. And on top of everything Kelsey

got Carbon which is so unfair because

her father drills oil wells for a living,

and she's already like the most popular girl

in the whole school and she lives in a big

house on a hill and I hate science now because

it’s so unfair and it makes no sense at all.

Paul Hostovsky

H, O, S like Sam,

T like Tom,

O, V like Victor,

S, K, Y. My mother

always spelled it like that

whenever people asked.

I was an only child with many

imaginary friends to my name.

Rainer Maria Rilke said

we must all eventually

lay aside even our own name

like a broken toy.

Maybe for a man with

Maria for a middle name

this was something to look forward to.

As for me, my toy

is at the top of its game,

and I take my rightful place

in the organization

of living things. There are

many species in a phylum,

there are many Pauls in a phone book,

but there was always only one

Hostovsky in the class,

and only one Paul Hostovsky

in the whole kingdom.

(Paul Hostovsky is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Hurt Into Beauty (2012, FutureCycle Press). His poems have won a Pushcart Prize and two Best of the Net Awards. Visit him at www.paulhostovsky.com)