PhillySound: new poetry

The writer referred to in the Jim Behrle/Kent Johnson blog war as "some Bosnian dude" is the incredible poet, Semezdin Mehmedinovic. Sarajevo Blues and Nine Alexandrias are available from City Lights Books. Here's a Mehmedinovic sampler:

Deserter

Only then--
not before you have coffee
at the train station;
the dispatcher tapping the wheels
of the locomotive with a hammer;
the paper tucked under your arm--
leaving the city in peace--
you'll never be true to yourself anywhere
unless your very life is the only truth
unless the empty air calls itself freedom--
unless you're a deserter
with an uneasy conscience
unless you're Billy the Kid


- FS