Michael Waterson

Owed to Truth and Beauty 
Beauty is truth, truth beauty — John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn

Keats spoke to the collected Townley Vase, 
and Elgin Marbles not as antique loot
carried off in the British lion’s jaws — 
the view that sparked an ongoing dispute —    
but timeless art, beauty idealized  
as the embodied essence of romance,
an idyllic stance that, uncompromised
by context or existential balance,
conflated so transcendently with truth.
Today some find his bold assertion fraught,
and chalk up his exuberance to youth.
Cowed by history, tentative in thought,  
over the last two centuries we’ve learned
truth is ugly, and beauty must be earned.   


Local Dive

The clock in here runs fast a quarter hour,
but time stops at the bottom of your glass,
as we each marinate in something sour,
and eye the aging barmaid’s tight jeans ass.
We bust each other’s balls; it’s all good fun,
while we get loud and loaded and unload
on local teams, our secular religion — 
avoiding talk that leads down darker roads —
and politicians playing us for fools
by stuffing ballot boxes and their pockets.
We’ve learned the cutesy crap they teach in schools
is useless in a world the runs on sweat
and guts, and tears distilled to alcohol,    
the solvent for your troubles large and small.

Michael Waterson (he, him) is a retired journalist with stints as a seasonal firefighter, San Francisco taxi driver and wine educator. He holds an MFA from Mills College. His work has appeared in numerous online and print journals, including California Quarterly, Home Planet News and Washington Square Review. He is Poet Laureate Emeritus of the Napa Valley.  “Owed to Truth and Beauty” was the first prize winner of the 2025 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest.  His information may be found at: michaelwatersonpoetry.com.