O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Richard Widerkehr
Spin The Bottle: 1958
I remember the front closet in the dim foyer
of Deena Mitzfeld’s place in Forest Hills,
which had no forest and few hills. The bottle
we spun had pointed to my toes, her toes, her knees
encased in white knee socks with a blue stripe.
In the rummage sale of shadows in her closet,
we kissed like minnows. The brush of her lips—
no, it wasn’t nothing, but what was it?
I can’t recall the smell of her hair, whether
our fingers touched. Almost as if our bodies
were off in Bakersfield—her father’s suit coats
could have been zoot suits for all I knew, and her
mom’s frocks—did I even know the word frock?
We said nothing, as if we were suppliants
fated to enact this ritual of coats and shadows,
tacit witnesses who, if they saw us, had the tact
to say nothing. As we two were fated never
to say word one about our—well, it was my
first kiss. I don’t recall what floor of that brick
monolith Deena’s parents’ apartment was on,
only that the living room window looked out
on a jungle gym in the tentative playground
where next day I would hold out my arms,
a paper airplane with no regrets, and fly.
About the writer:
Richard Widerkehr’s work has appeared in OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L), Rattle, Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily, and many others. He earned his M.A. at Columbia University and won two Hopwood first prizes for poetry at the University of Michigan. His third book of poems, At the Grace Cafe, has recently been published by Main Street Rag Press. He reads poems for Shark Reef Review.
Image: Spielende Formen by Franz Marc (1880-1916). Oil on canvas. 25.7 x 66.9 inches. 1914. Public domain.
Other work by Richard Widerkehr available on O:JA&L
Pamphlets
Individual works
Poetry: All forms & styles|Richard Widerkehr|”Two December Mornings”
Poetry: All forms & styles|Richard Widerkehr|”Kristallnacht, 1938: Night of Shattered Glass”
Poetry: All forms & styles|Richard Widerkehr|”When You Ask About That Dream”
Poetry: All forms & styles|Writer’s Portfolio||Richard Widerkehr|”At O’Hare Airport: Her Foxgloves”
Poetry: All forms & styles|Writer’s Portfolio||Richard Widerkehr|”Spin The Bottle: 1958″
Poetry: All forms & styles|Writer’s Portfolio||Richard Widerkehr|”Sympathy for the Scarecrow”
Americana|Poetry: All forms & styles||Richard Widerkehr|”Biloxi”
OJAL Art Incorporated, publishing since 2017 as OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L) and its imprints Buttonhook Press, HOT BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Issues, and HIGH BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Art, supports writers and artists worldwide.
BUTTONHOOK PRESS MASTERS SERIES
Click on the titles to explore or download the free PDF chapbooks.
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Brian Clements on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Mark Budman on Flash Discourse
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Ray Gonzalez on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Michael Martone on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Roberta Allen on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Peter Conners on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Maxine Chernoff on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Pedro Ponce on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Tom Hazuka on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Kent Dixon on Flash Fiction & Nonfiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Jim Meirose on Experimental Discourse
With an interview by Associate Editor Warwick Newnham
O:JA&L’S HIGH BUTTON PRESS ART CHAPBOOKS
Click on the titles to explore or download the free PDF chapbooks.
RITES OF CALIBRATION: Images & Excerpts
Fine Art Photography by Rex Wilder
Fine Art Photography by Natalie Christensen
Painting and drawing by Anne-Marie Brown
BY LAND AND BY SEA: Awakening the Sensual
Sculpture and Installation by Mark Yale Harris
Painting and drawing by Bette Ridgeway
Painting and drawing by Kathleen Frank
Painting and drawing by Catherine Eaton Skinner
Implications of Energy
Artist portfolio of Dr. Ernest Williams III
