Joseph Lisowski

When Does This Ride Stop?

How can I stop

This carousel

Of luck,

Mostly bad?

Flesh wrinkles

Grows limp

With age.

Yet the body-soul

Attempts to soar

At the sight,

Smell,

Nearness

Of female flesh

Singing

For touch.

Interview

TSTmpj:  I especially like the ending of this poem.  How did you arrive at it (says I, wincing knowingly at my choice of words)?

Joseph Lisowski:  What I hoped to accomplish with the ending was to kinda replicate the feeling of a sudden stop when riding the carousel, a kind of lunging forward with sexual overtones.  Regardless of your age, an attractive woman can draw your body toward her through her animal magnetism.

*

TSTmpj:  The "body-soul", both as an image and a concept.  Why "body-soul" and not "soul-body"?  Can you share a few thoughts on what the "body-soul" means for you?

Joseph Lisowski:  This pull comes from the body first, which, in turn, may drag the "soul" with it; hence, "body-soul," rather than "soul-body."

*

TSTmpj:  Finally, Joseph, the life of a Professor of English must surely be an eventful one.  Is there an experience, an anecdote or two you wish to share?

Joseph Lisowski:  Many years ago, I taught freshman writing at an urban campus, and at the end of the term, one of my students came to my office with a few of his essays that I had graded.  He nudged these wrinkled papers toward me and said, "hey, man, what's all dem 'FROGS' doing on my papers?"  I looked closely at the essays, then at him, noting his heavy lidded eyes and the smell of marijuana coming off his clothes.  "What I wrote there," I said in response, "was 'frag,' which stands for sentence fragment; your essays are filled with sentence fragments."  He stared at the papers for quite a while before finally saying, "still look like 'FROGS!' to me."  Well, I thought, at least they weren't toads.

Bio Note

Joseph Lisowski's most recent poetry chapbook is STASHU KAPINSKI LOOKS FOR LOVE published by erbacce-press (Liverpool, UK).