Two Poems
Mark Blaeuer
Blithe Imperialist
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Pre-presidentially,
Theodore Roosevelt
touted “Talk softly and
lug a big stick.”
When he yelled “Bully!” at
Rhinocerotidae,
Ted let an elephant
gun do the trick.
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Mark’s notes: ​​“This poem first appeared in 2014, in Light, and it was republished in The HyperTexts in 2020. The double dactyl form has, perhaps, a number of very real limitations as a vehicle for studying larger-than-life historical figures, but I can now at least claim to have cast one more droplet into the sea of Rooseveltiana. My first stanza touches on his speech at the Minnesota State Fair of 1901, and the second refers to the Smithsonian–Roosevelt African Expedition of 1909.“
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To a Friend in Wilderness
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Love is a habitat
of mind
high wanderlust
can never find.
Endangered feelings thrive
within
a stable heart, away
from din.
Repeat your vow,
a whippoorwill
as constant as the dusk
is still.
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Mark’s notes: “This poem was first published in 1998, in the Piedmont Literary Review. It was reprinted in Victorian Violet Press & Journal (2011), in my Fragments of a Nocturne volume (2014, Kelsay Books), and at The HyperTexts (2020). I don’t remember the poem being written for a flesh-and-blood person who wanted relationship advice, so maybe the friend in the title was purely imaginary. Or could I have been talking to myself? One thing is sure: a whippoorwill calls over and over and over . . . but I’ve never found it repetitive.”
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Mark Blaeuer lives just south of Lofton, Arkansas. He was a ranger for many years at nearby Hot Springs National Park, and his M.A. is in Anthropology. His poems (and a few translations from Spanish) have appeared in 100+ magazines, such as Better Than Starbucks, Bindweed, The Borough, Ezra, Grand Little Things, The HyperTexts, Lighten Up Online, The Orchards, Passionfruit Review, Pulsebeat, Susurrus, Ultramarine Literary Review, and Wales Haiku Journal. His collections are Fragments of a Nocturne (Kelsay Books, 2014) and Surfacing Below (SurVision Books, 2025). He’s also written a couple of history books: Didn’t All the Indians Come Here? (Eastern National, 2007 [out of print]) and Baseball in Hot Springs (Arcadia Publishing, 2016).
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