Leibert Benet Wallerstein

Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA

Mr. Wallerstein has had several short stories and poems published. He has also had a dozen or so articles published in professional journals. He is presently working on a novel and a book of poetry. He has had fiction and poems published in Encore, CPU Review, Anterior Bitewing, Washington Jewish Week, Lobo, New Mexico Review, Chicago Jewish Forum, and other publications.Mr. Wallerstein studied under Tennessee Wiliams and John Gassner. He attended Breadloaf Writer's Conference and the University of New Hamsphire's Writers' Conference where he won an award for the best writing. He has also taken other writing courses.My Wallerstein has a Pd.D. in Economics and Social Science, and has written a dissertation: Sea Change, 1970-1980, Environment and Transportation.He is retired federal employee, having served his country for thirty years, including service in the United States Army during World War II.

Prelude

Even Wisdom does not wander the streets
on a mean cold night like this.
The bright-eyed dwellings are silent
beneath the single white disk standing
astride the iron black horizon.
And Fools say things that sour
even the most benign of streets.
And Wisdom, with the cats,
Sits Silently behind the garbage can
marked: Civilizations, Old and New.
All are waiting, and Time, The Cynic,
Holds his pose the same for a million years,
Coming, Going.

The Awareness

After eating the apple
from the forbidden tree,
you both went forth from the Garden.
It made me aware
how God must love His creatures
to forgive their sins.

Sonnet

O remember still, the winter sun, apple red
Upon the buildings, standing just below
Hills, where slender trunks of bared trees
Point up towards the chill, clean horizon.
Remember the mammoth, curling river,
That slides its pinkish depths beneath
The silent, shining city lamps,
Now grown dim and lusterless, this moment
When the sun is leaving for the west,
Where spiralled, narrow smoke puts
Greek columns above the black roofs
Of sleek, dark houses on the streets.
O remember still this rapid winter sunset;
O remeber all, when smiling summer comes.