Joey Nicoletti
billbafor Barry Morse (1918-2008)
Tears freeze on the window.
Your easy smile and willingness
to have the cult-classic scientist you played
say I don’t know in matters of shifting lunar orbits
fills my glass of soda with foamy gratitude
for WPIX-TV; for bad science fiction and escape
from the Saturday Night Fights
between my parents,
ignited by high gas prices, long hours
at work, and cheap wine.
I squirt a quick smirk of raspberry syrup
on my dish of vanilla ice cream,
some store-bought comfort
for my spirits on a cold night.
–
Joey Nicoletti is the author of the forthcoming Cannoli Gangster, which was also a finalist in the 2009 Steel Toe Books Poetry Prize. He currently teaches creative writing at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.