Lou Lipsitz: Poetry

Reflections on Samson
Samson turned up in Brooklyn wearing a skin-diver's outfit and looking Caribbean. They thought he was sent by Fidel and frisked him and suggested he stay out of the harbor muck. But he was accustomed to nothing in this new world where he needed tasks worthy of his strength and so walked for hours asking advice from the pigeons. After some months he located a mother and father in Canarsie who spoke to him in sign language. He learned to eat very awkwardly with a fork and was encouraged by the children to play baseball which he mastered, but found it hard to control the speed of his pitch. For a while he visited with Three girls – all small and pretty- In the afternoons they would Swim in the harbor Leaping into the air occasionally like dolphins. When they called him for the draft In 1965, he refused At first, but later saw the chance For heroism and served As a nurse, carrying the wounded Out of range, one or Two under each arm.

Delilah was a rich girl who had problems. He went there often To hear the piano and argue with her father who hated unions. One day they bought him a hat and a suit and insisted he get his hair cut. After that he was never the same. He woke up tied to a desk, writing articles for obscure social science journals. Of his several children one was torn apart by urges to be in two Places at once, of the others there is no clear record.