Bruce Lader

I believe in the vital necessity of political poetry and publish poems against war and to preserve our planet. Many other of my poems blend images of the natural world with musical metaphors, in ways similar to improvising jazz. Here is a sample from the Spring 2009 issue of Falling Star Magazine:

Dearest Betty Carter

Sweet mistress of eureka,
there’s only one of you swinging colors instantly recognized,
leading me through far-out mazes
of harmonies I could listen to
marooned on a remote island forever.

In the car I pray for traffic delays as you nuzzle my ears, caress me with juicy morsels
of elusive melodies
gliding like discoveries of birds.

You change the monotonous sentence of work into honeymoons around unknown planets.
So many nights I have wakened
yearning for your delectable voice,
spider-stepped to the study
where we rendezvous in your galaxy of music.

My wife doesn’t dig the idea
of ménage à trois. She observes me
swaying and gyrating out of control like an infatuated teenager
when you steal my breath away
without leaving a clue how you bridge tunes to the furthest horizons, and mold them
with deceptive curves of delight.

I can’t keep our involvement
hush-hush any longer.
She’ll read this poem and get
the wrong picture about
the nebulous voyages
you navigate with limitless range
of camouflage, the abundant sounds
seducing me astray.