Gumball Poetry - Poetry by Jamie Wasserman

Jamie Wasserman

Don Quixote

wants to believe
that the windmill's rhythmic turning
is somehow connected to the moon,

that the wind is caused
by the contact of trees,

that the earth rises
to meet the hovering rain.

For the Father, the Son, and my psychiatrist,
for you Dulcinea,
I will defeat this giant.
I will ride in circles, counter-clockwise,
or the gods will be angry.

He has the reigns,
a horse named Rocinante
who believes in nothing
and a lance so sharp
you wouldn't believe
he had run you through
until you saw your blood falling.

Jamie Wasserman's poetry and essays appear (or are forthcoming) in Weber Studies, Magma, City Primeval, CrossConnect, and others. His chapbook, "Wrestling the Angel" was nominated by Lite; Baltimore's Literary Newspaper for a 1999 Baltimore Artscape Award for poetry. He currently serves as the managing editor of The Alsop Review. His poems also appeared in the Fall issue of Gumball Poetry.

Email Jamie Wasserman at wassermj@gumballpoetry.com.

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7.25.2000
Jasmine from newmarket, ontario

Is this even legal?
The problem with this poem, is that it makes no point that wasn't made in the novel. If you wanted to use imagery from the book (whether it was Monsignor Quitote, Don Quixote, or the Man of LaMancha) you should have used it to make some points of your own.

7.04.2000
Ron from Philly

I disagree - the last stanza makes it
I felt the last stanza made the poem in many ways. I love the first three way in which Don Quixote reverses nature, confusing cause and effect, but in the end, here is something real. You can not believe this fool of a man can let your own blood. I feel that the second to the last stanza is the weak one - bringing in the word psychiatrist jolts us out of the mind (and time period) of Don Quixote, and I also feel that using "I" throws us, too. All in all, though, a good poem.

6.22.2000
cj from ca

Love the third stanza's 'trinity' heh
Good ideas here. Last stanza's not as strong as the rest, but still an interesting read overall.