gypsy blood by wesley scott mcmasters

Most Read Poets 2020

232 1

This year has offered many challenges to all of us. There has been great change, great loss, a fight against an invisible assailant. As with all things in 2020 the pandemic has dominated. This year’s most read poets includes the six pandemic issues we published. The list begins with Wesley Scott McMasters followed by The Pandemic Issues and rounded out by Ezra Solway, Robbi Nester and Akshaya Pawaskar.

Gypsy Blood by Wesley Scott McMasters

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/gypsy-blood-by-wesley-scott-mcmasters/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue #2

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/north-of-oxford-the-pandemic-issue-2/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue #5

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/north-of-oxford-the-pandemic-issue/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue #6

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/north-of-oxford-the-pandemic-issue-6/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue #1

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/19/__trashed-2/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue # 3

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/north-of-oxford-the-pandemic-issue-3/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue #4

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/27/north-of-oxford-the-pandemic-issue-4/

Philadelphia Pulp by Ezra Solway

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/10/14/philadelphia-pulp-by-ezra-solway/

Perspective by Robbi Nester

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/01/15/perspective-by-robbi-nester/

War of Elements by Akshaya Pawaskar

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/01/15/war-of-elements-by-akshaya-pawaskar/

Ten Most Read Poetry Posts at North of Oxford – January – July 2020

232

Gypsy Blood by Wesley Scott McMasters

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/gypsy-blood-by-wesley-scott-mcmasters/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue #2

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/north-of-oxford-the-pandemic-issue-2/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue # 3

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/north-of-oxford-the-pandemic-issue-3/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue #1

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/19/__trashed-2/

North of Oxford – The Pandemic Issue #4

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/27/north-of-oxford-the-pandemic-issue-4/

War of Elements by Akshaya Pawaskar

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/01/15/war-of-elements-by-akshaya-pawaskar/

As Promised, the fire by David P. Kozinski

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/05/15/as-promised-the-fire-by-david-p-kozinski/

This Land is Full of Noises by Robert Nisbet

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/01/15/this-land-is-full-of-noises-by-robert-nisbet/

Perspective by Robbi Nester

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/01/15/perspective-by-robbi-nester/

Medusa’s #Metoo by Luanne Castle

https://northofoxford.wordpress.com/2020/04/15/medusas-metoo-by-luanne-castle/

Gypsy Blood by Wesley Scott McMasters

Gypsy Blood

for my father

I wear shoes that are worn out

soles worn thin

dirty

leather cracked

creases clear

sometimes even a gap through which

I can feel rain or snow

I wear shoes that I don’t wash or shine

I let them soak in the shit in the city streets

feel the ocean water

or the Gulf of Mexico

a place my father dreams about

even when he is there

I dig these shoes out from the back of my closet

like pulling bones from a grave

blowing the dust off

stepping in piss

in a corner of Venice

where as a kid

I always dreamed of going

finally walking those streets

wearing jeans that made me

look like my gypsy ancestors

the Romani who still live

sometimes

outside of the city

a purple button down

blazer bleached from Italian sun

and shoes

that will never forget why

the soles are worn thin

and the leather

is cracked

or the moment when she kissed me

for the first time

in ten years

or ten days

or the moment when I hugged my father

for the first time

in ten years

or ten days

maybe the first time I ever saw him cry

and definitely the first time

I cried with him

as I watched my grandfather’s body

weak and frail

carried out to be burned

to be made into dust

my father told me

during a call to him

from a diner

in Poughkeepsie

that we have gypsy blood

like my grandfather

and my great grandfather

maybe this is why

my leather lasts

soaked in blood

my blood

my father’s blood

gypsy blood

Wesley Scott McMasters is a poet and professor in the eastern part of Tennessee, near the Smoky Mountains, where he lives with his dog, Poet (who came with the name, he swears).