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Neal Zirn

highball@northnet.org

Neal Zirn was born and raised in the Bronx, and this has had a profound influence on his writing. He is a practicing chiropractor, with a Master of Arts degree in liberal studies. He is an exhibiting painter and printmaker, a tai chi enthusiast, and a lifelong student of the spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff. His writings have been published in numerous publications throughout the United States, and he has recently been accepted for publication in two reviews in Canada.

My Blue Sweetie

She was blue,
blue hair, blue skin,
blue eyes, blue heart,
blue, blue , blue.
Cerulean, ultramarine,
sky blue, cobalt blue,
blue as a woman could be.
Blue in b-flat, yes,
that’s how she was
and that’s the way
I knew her.

She would put on
her blue lipstick,
blue nail polish,
and her blue dress
and we would go
downtown like that
to see a sad movie
and have a coffee
in a sad café.
I was miserable
anytime I was with her
and wore this misery
as my own blue overcoat.
And oh, to feel so bad
it was almost good,
that’s how I knew
I was truly alive
and suffering
as I should be.
Lord have mercy
on my soul.

And then one day
she was gone
as if one season
had ended and another
was about to begin.
She said I was
too unhappy for her
and that she needed
to be with someone
who made her laugh.

Well, maybe the next
one will be green
or yellow.
Although red
would be nice,
rosy and all that,
you know.