Poetry Samples - Cheap Thrills - Newlyweds - Leaves

Here are three more poems that I wrote years ago. Each one was published in a book or magazine:

The following poem appeared in Verses Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 3 – Fall 1996:


“Cheap Thrills”

Your embrace
Is a thrill ride.
Unexpected,
Heart racing
And ending
Too soon.



The following poem appeared in The Amherst Society’s American Poetry Annual 1989:


“Newlyweds”

Newlyweds
Appraise love
Like diamonds…
Flawlessly glowing
In crystalline brilliance –
Only awaking later
To dime store
Rhinestones
Cradled in gold-plated
Prongs….


The following poem appeared in the American Poetry Anthology Vo. IV, No. 1, Spring 1985:


“Leaves”

Sprouting from its fetal encasement
It peeks its green eyes out at the light
Yawning, it stretches its arms and legs,
It converses with friends till the whispers grow old,
Forever wrinkling and curling, it has grown old,
Veins stop growing and arms sag,
Change from blushing youth to brown-faced hag,
Slowly dying, the ice coats its soul,
They clink together and music prevails,
Heaven’s harps singing a final song,
Falling, gliding, soaring to the ground,
Only to be crushed into the earth and reborn again

Poetry Samples - Yes Press (1990)

The following two poems appeared in the book, Poems: A Celebration





“The Dustman”

I am timid
Like blades
Of grass crushed
Under the weight
Of the thick
Leather souls
Of work
Boots worn
By calloused
Men
Making livings
Chopping down
Saplings
And gouging
Into terra firma
With mechanical fingernails
Till it crumbles
Into nothingness
Left for the dustman
To sweep under
Some lone
Distant door…..


“Ode to a Hotel Clerk”

I must make a confession,
Being a Front Desk Clerk is a most dangerous profession,
With foreigners with tattoos of daggers and spiders,
To honeymooners and seniors with quirks,
Hotheads, hookers and other jerks,
But our brave little Front Desk Clerk must face them all undaunted,
Even though they look like America’s Most Wanted!



Author’s Note: Poems: A Celebration was published by Yes Press in 1990. It was edited by Glenn Gallaher

April is National Poetry Month

It’s National Poetry Month. So, I’ve decided to dust off the books and pull out some of the poems that I’ve had published over the years. Here are two that appeared in the book, Gift of Words:

“Fences”

Loneliness
Is a Rod
Iron
Fence looming
In shadowy
Silence…Ominous
Against
The boundary lines
Of human souls……


“Rackets”

Homo Sapiens like used
Gum cling
To leather soles…
And love
A cheap, plastic,
Disposable razor,
Lies with human hearts…..
Shatters and strewn
Like egg shells
Rotting in garbage….
Parents, once coffee filters,
Kept bitter grinds
From tender lips…
Once
Now children
Like racquet balls
Smash against
Walls….no parents,
Just rackets……

Author’s Note: Gift of Words was published in 1990 by Suwannee Poetry.