TRAVEL POEM
The City Of No Tulips
I wrote this poem thinking back on my one-day stopover in Amsterdam on my way to Israel. I was terribly jetlagged, and it turned out to be the worst weather day of the year for Amsterdam. The overflowing canals, dark clouds, and slanting rain told me I had to write a poem about that day. I was also surprised that I saw museums everywhere, but no tulips anywhere, even though it was the middle of the summer.
Baruch November’s most recent book of poems is entitled Bar Mitzvah Dreams. His earlier collection,Dry Nectars of Plenty co-won BigCityLit’s chapbook contest.
Baruch has taught courses in Shakespeare, poetry, and writing at Touro College in Manhattan. He co-hosts the Jewish Poetry Reading Series, which has featured poets such as Alan Shapiro, Linda Pastan, and Grace Schulman
The City of No Tulips
At the mouth of the river
Amster stood the great city
of museums and tulips—
where I didn’t see a tulip.
It was like looking through space
without seeing one comet.
Either the flower were out
of season or I was.
The rain slanted into dusk.
Bicycles threw puddles
into chaos. Green canals
churned with old sorrows.
