April is National Poetry Month, so I’ll be posting a poem here on my blog every day. Some of the poems will be ones that I’ve written myself. Some will be poems from poets who are just a little bit more well known than myself.

This first poem is the theme poem of  There Are No Buffalo In Buffalo, my book of poems about places in New York State. I chose to start with this one because it seemed appropriate for April Fool’s Day.

New York Blues

There are no Buffalo in Buffalo,

Rye is not built of dark bread.

They don’t grow almonds in Almond,

the bass in Fishkill are not dead.

So, is there silver in Sterling?

Can Sugarloaf really be sweet?

Are there no long pants in Shortsville?

Is Redfield the color of beets?

Do they only speak German in Germantown?

Is there really a monarch in Queens?

I guess when it comes to the state of New York

nothing is just as it seems.