New Poetry by Fred Pollack

The Art of the Probable

As deserts spread, and the need

for any walk depends

on how much water you’ll need

to make it, the trope of Sun

as, what was it? truth, sensuality,

moderation, something Greek,

will cease to appeal. Already

Siberian shamans no longer mention

ice. Fire won’t symbolize

anything ever again in

Australia. And you know what the oceans

are up to. When the current

plague ends and crowds return

to theaters, the Sylvia Plath Story

with a sexier title will fill the screens 

but no one will imitate her. Rather,

a New Impersonality

will rule the workshops –

so dry and intimidating

all poets will believe in it.

- © Fred Pollack 2020

Author of two book-length narrative poems, THE ADVENTURE and HAPPINESS, both Story Line Press; the former to be reissued by Red Hen Press. Two collections of shorter poems, A POVERTY OF WORDS, (Prolific Press, 2015) and LANDSCAPE WITH MUTANT (Smokestack Books, UK, 2018). Pollack has appeared in Salmagundi, Poetry Salzburg Review, The Fish Anthology (Ireland), Magma (UK), Bateau, Fulcrum, Chiron Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, etc.  Online, poems have appeared in Big Bridge, Hamilton Stone Review, BlazeVox, The New Hampshire  Review, Mudlark, Rat’s Ass Review,  Faircloth Review, Triggerfish, etc