Poem of the Day: “If I Only Had A Brain” by Ross Balcom

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “If I Only Had A Brain” by Ross Balcom.  Mr. Balcom is a counselor living in southern California. His poems have appeared in Beyond Centauri, inkscrawl, Scifaikuest, Star*Line, Tigershark, and other publications, as well as regularly in the Songs of Eretz Poetry E-zine. Currently, his favorite poets are John Ashbery, Lo Fu, and Michael McClure. In addition to poetry, his interests include parapsychology, hypnosis, and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

If I Only Had A Brain

Ross Balcom

Kansas,

forgive me.

I left

the farm.

Now I sit

in my apartment,

counting pixels.

Everyone

comes to this.

Everyone a prisoner

of the glowing screen.

There is a knock

on my door.

I don't answer.

It is a scarecrow,

begging for a fix.

But I have only

a barren field,

an empty stare.

Dear God,

if  I only had a brain.

Poet’s Notes:  "Will I answer the door when the scarecrow knocks?" This is a question that all who are displaced from the soil must answer for themselves. Let me just note that many have found love in his arms, and he's really not scary at all.

Editor’s Note:  Mr. Balcom captures the sense of loss that immersion in technology may bring with a wonderful, poignant poetic conceit.  The personification of the scarecrow is a masterstroke--creepy but in a somber, meaningful way.