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PUBLISHED POEMS

January 22, 2011 at 10:51 pm Leave a comment

In 1985 New Worlds Unlimited once again published two of my poems in their anthology, Treasures of the Precious Moments. I’m going to give some background for the poems.

I spent years in the Midwest, in college and then in the air force, and had never seen a tornado. Although, I’d been close to one while I live in Wichita. I remember the sky turning a sickly green. I went outside and the temperature swung back and forth. The wind went from a fierce blow to a deathly calm. Next came the hail – golf ball-sized chunks of ice.

Wouldn’t you know it; I spent two years in Florida during the 1970s and saw a tornado. I was fishing with friends in the Everglades at Flamingo at the southern tip of the park. The sky began to darken – dramatically. We decided to leave and headed north. That’s when I saw it, a delicate finger dipping down from the indigo clouds.

THE TEMPEST

Lost,
In a torrent of storm and power
a delicate finger fondles the earth’s surface.
Extends from a dark gray womb reaching out.
Caressing,
Tearing with the force of a lover lost in ecstasy.
A mighty machine born of cloud and air
spending itself on the unsuspecting earth
I watch,
A distant viewer of a mystical force,
Amazed at the beauty Death’s angel has assumed.
Amazed at the power unleashed before my eyes.
Distance masks the fury, the rage of storms.
Distance masks the horror of life’s reality.

To say I am a loner would be a gross understatement. One cannot observe and participate at the same time. I chose to observe.
The fact that I am married is a minor miracle. Joni saved me from the life of a hermit. She will never know how much I appreciate that.
This poem was written back when I was till in my hermit phase.

WALLS

I’m just marking time
and can’t explain why
when the door opens I kick it shut.

A wall was built some time ago,
the seams mossed over
so that nothing can penetrate.
The walls purpose, lost with the key.
Yet, the prisoner finds the wall insecure,
builds walls within walls,
breaks into himself to find only emptiness.
And the final realization comes too late.
The walls protect nothing
and nothing was saved.

Entry filed under: poem, PUBLISHED POEM. Tags: New Worlds Unlimited, poem, published poem.