Matt Pasca - Traitor Psalm

Long Island poet Matt Pasca gives it all up and at the same time transforms us in his engaging poem “Traitor Psalm”. Time and roles are as mercurial as dark matter in “Traitor Psalm”, and Matt is the “frantic chemist” mentioned in the closing passages of his poem, “stirring solids into steam”. In “Traitor Psalm” relinquishment gives way gloriously to acceptance and processing. Matt told The Dewdrop that “Traitor Psalm” is a poem from a forthcoming manuscript about the social and psychological challenges of being raised as a neurodiverse Baha’i in a 1980s Long Island suburb.

Traitor Psalm

I try to return this casing, toss
the receipts & write my revocation:

———————–ice melting in a grass
———————————-median under cloaked
———————–sunlight by a freeway
———————————-from which a siege of egrets
———————–rises like a snowstorm
———————————-in reverse

My condor son wraps his wings
around me when just there I cleaned
————-& clothed his starter frame
————-a neophyte god of powder & cream

———————————–It’s all aftershock—

————-the present is a window
————————a keyring, a chassis
————-a blossom on repeat
————————diced herbs on a wooden board
————-her voice nearby

————————time mutates like water
————-my pen a frantic chemist

—————————————————————————–stirring solids into steam

Matt Pasca
MATT PASCA (he/they) is the author of A Thousand Doors (2011 Pushcart nominee), Raven Wire (2017 Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist), and work that has appeared in more than 50 publications. As a NYS Teacher of Excellence, Pasca has taught high school seniors since 1997 and college students at Adelphi University. since 2024. Pasca co-hosts a monthly poetry series, Friday Night Fire, and was named Long Island Poet of the Year by the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association in 2022. www.mattpasca.com @mrpasca (IG)