Dancing Bear

Prospero in Therapy

there is an island he keeps in his heart
each morning and through the day
he repeats affirmations like his old spells

used to enslave the beasts
change the island to his will
and manifest revenge

now he is happy on the beaches
with a swatch of sky so blue
it stuns him

if the hawk he is enamored with
never flies past this beach again
he will always remember it

and no spell to bend its wings
towards him could ever match
the beauty of its own direction

he will not conjure yellow roses
to win the love of a beautiful woman
but take time and grow them

touching each leaf as if it were
her smooth skin understanding
the branches as he desires to know her

at night he snores in deep slumber
forgetting the one eye open nights
awaiting the failure of his magic

Charles Atlas and the Angel of Unlucky Circumstances

there is an angel for everything
nothing is left to chance and the world is heavy with
meeting people wanting to do pull ups on his straining arms
Atlas flexes because he is confident in his strength
the angel drops plenty of broken wing birds in his path
she jackhammers the sidewalk
and he moves one heavy foot steady

though the angel has given him no good reason to
he thinks he is a likable guy with lots of good qualities
and this angel plants a woman in his path
pretending love and dancing seduction
and Atlas obliges the dance never letting the world down
and if this woman falls
Charles will be right there to catch her

the angel sends him a demon throng of external validation
who cackle their disapproval of his appearances
the way he cares or appears not to care
his choices in lovers the tasks he performs
the angel's best: his psychotherapist who says good work
and something in his heart feels lighter

Charles Atlas thinks why me an awful lot
always attempting to please the world he carries
but he trudges on with his life of endless tasks
hoping for praise but expecting criticism
feeling he deserves every bit of it

Dancing Bear is of Chippewa and Swedish ancestry. He lives in San Jose, California. His poems have been published in many journals and magazines including New York Quarterly, Zuzu's Petals Quarterly, Slipstream, Poetry Motel, and The Rio Grande Review. He is the editor of several books and chapbooks. His latest chapbook is Disjointed Constellations.