Poetry

“Stiff and stark sat the child – frozen to death, there with her matches, of which one bundle had been burnt. ‘She wanted to warm herself,’ people said.”Hans Christian Anderson, “The Little Match Girl” Stars, falling thick as snowflakes, keep company with the cold of night. Like a candle wick, all spark and fizz, they […]

There once was a sweet rufous hummer Who came to my feeder all summer He twisted and twirled His bright colors swirled Now it’s winter- he’s gone What a bummer! Jean Munsee

Is how I remember you — in a single turning coil, or in scraps too uneven to hold together, and always feeling the blade moving beneath the skin where it would draw blood if the edge cut through. Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

The world tilts far enough now Where summer is almost a secret, And lifetimes can easily pass in the still air. During our walks, then, Over brilliant orange, gold and new sky, Her sadness came to be: Neatly placed Into the yielding grasp Of a freshly fallen maple leaf. Then, sealed into a shiny blue […]

All the pain we feel Is best left by the river, With babbling brooks. Kirk Gothier

All Hallows Eve! The sun, Descending into a pyre of branches, becomes a Jack o’Lantern And, bidden, they spring up on the dark roads Steps, and windows across the dimming land. Look! Inferno is in their eyes. Irony is on their lipless, pillared grins. And see the Dead! Crouching like cats In the adjacent blackness, […]

The night I saw the mountain lion I saw her eyeshine first And then her head And then her frame Then something that was worse Her stance was over-rigid She was wound and set to spring Her eyes were locked upon me And I was everything My light shone bright upon her I knew to […]

Natives lived in those caves out behind the farmhouse, their artifacts trickle out with each new generation exploring the cool dark, carrying big sticks & fierce imaginations on their bear hunts. Timid beasts, those black bears, bold only for the brief run of salmon berry down along the creek. One winter the snow melted and […]

The afternoon holds just enough. Life and dying, Should be familiar In the narrow, empty spaces Hiding, In the confusing mass of briars, And dried or mildewed berries: Take your pick. Meanwhile, the shadowed visitors of place Sneak back home. Somewhere, this stretch of time, Memories turn, Stretch further, Longer Than the stories Our present […]

A good story is woven From finest ingredients Maidenhair fern ribs Lichen dyed beargrass Cedar bark, cedar root Spruce root, cattail leaves Sour grass and straw grass And tule, woven tight So tight you can boil water And cook a tangled plot So intricate, intimate And lovingly patterned Seemingly simply but Specifically complex The narrative […]

Finally, it hits me Like a Periodic Table Discussion of Relativity, There is no corner Of this endless space Unfit for the living. All sentient beings Care for each other In such strange ways, Where stars explode And galaxies collide. When the sun rises, My grandson smiles Beyond our dreams. Kirk Gothier

Fires burn in the east, Smoke lifts high into the sky, The Red Moon rises. Sherman SChapiro