Lisa Zimmerman

Poet

One of 3 poems in Book of Matches Literary Journal

Planets in Detriment, or is It the World?

Is there a planet for lament? For anguish?
Pisces is sobbing in a hotel bathroom with Saturn embarrassed
to be with her in her grief, wanting to flood all the sinks
in all the other bathrooms. Venus likes to wear sequins, a strapless
ballgown, scent of blossoms following her everywhere

but she chafes in the armor Aries forced her to put on, says
what she doesn’t mean, and loudly. Now she’s going back
to the party. She’s unhappy but knows her work boots look sexy.
Jupiter in Gemini is watching the news on his phone, talking

and talking to any willing ear about what he thinks it all means—
the bitter conflicts, the torture, starvation, refugees, orphans,
widows, burning villages, cities flooded, the pretty girl
in armor, the crying he hears coming from the bathroom.

https://www.bookofmatcheslitmag.com/post/issue-16-celebrating-5-years

A poem included in Splendor: An Anthology of Love Poems

I Wish in the Whole Foods of Your Heart

That I could be among the golden apricots
you tenderly choose to place in your basket
and the free sample of freshly rolled sushi
under its plastic dome. I wish I could be
the soft green chile tortillas you buy
to add to your spicy Mexican food brunch
and the overpriced locally grown sunflowers
you bring to the table, the oat milk splashed
on your cereal and the spoon, the gleaming spoon
you bring to your mouth.