Spaldeen: Poems by Henry M. Seiden

…I am delighted by what Seiden does. I am delighted by the intelligence, the honesty, the knowledge, and the power of his presence. It is a moral presence, and moral most of all because of his good music, his good writing. I congratulate him.
—Gerald Stern, recipient of the National Book Award for poetry for _is Time: New and Selected Poems and First Poet Laureate of New Jersey.

In Henry Seiden’s Spaldeen, with its deliciously homely title, humor (witty and sometimes even groan-worthy), heartache, exhilaration, and generous insights take their turns and have their way with this reader. Thse are large-hearted poems, loving their jokes, their remembered games, their Jewish family characters. Contemplative, insightful, and lyrical, they deliver what Seiden calls “the ache of absence.” Here is a poet, not only a master of his craft, but of expansive expressive kindness, a joy to read.
—Gail Mazur, author of Forbidden City

Even if you didn’t grow up in New York City you’ll feel as if you did after reading Henry Seiden’s evocations of his Bronx boyhood. New memories of old things—if such a thing is possible. _is diverse collection also includes lovely metaphorical lyrics, a group of poems about Hopper paintings and threads of dark humor. “My achievements speak for themselves, but in a hoarse stage whisper,” he tells us in “Certain Death.” Henry Seiden’s very much alive persona even manages a valedictory any one of us might be proud to utter: “I thank them,” he says in “Acceptance Speech,” even for my bad dreams, even for the dreams I may never understand.”

—Irene Willis, author of Reminder

Henry M. Seiden is a poet and a psychologist and psychoanalyst who practices in Forest Hills, New York. His most recent book is The Motive for Metaphor: brief essays on poetry and psychoanalysis (Karnac).

Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
I. FROM AN ANALYST’S NOTEBOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Theological Countertransference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Snapshots of the Psychotherapist Taken by Himself Without a
Camera and Sometimes in Bad Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
From an Analyst’s Notebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Tinnitus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
II. I ALWAYS DREAM OF SUBWAY TRAINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
I Always Dream of Subway Trains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Corn Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Snow Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Story As I Understand It Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Bubbameises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Good Rumor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Kumquats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Monty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Unknown Soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..30
Looking for Lola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Turtle Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Just Like Chicken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Beggar’s Chicken, Wellfleet, 1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Certain Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
What Is It About Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Acceptance Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

III. POEMS ON HOPPER PAINTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Poems on Hopper Paintings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
IV. SPALDEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Spaldeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Ars Poetica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …50
Writer’s Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …51
The Sweetness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Angelology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …53
Summer Body, Winter Mango . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …..55
Haircut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……57
The Heart Is Not The Red It Is Supposed To Be . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Grand Concourse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Double Sonnet for My Parents in which
Xavier Cugat Makes a Guest Apearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Reincarnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …….’64
Meditation on Love & Parrots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …..65
Men Say Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………66
V. LOST CHORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……69
Pictures My Mother Left Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……71
Subway Suite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …….75
For a Friend Who Likes to Think His Dead Father
Is Watching Over Him . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………79
Lost Chord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………..81