Sucker ~ A Pantoum

“Aye lad, the evidence was on it real good”

He said with a crooked, half-toothed smile;

he said it like a fishless, fisherman would,

like a cop on a crime just brought to trial.

.

He said it with a crooked, half-toothed smile

in his way, a sweaty, short, salty sailor sort.

But like a cop on a crime, just brought to trial:

“Goin’ back out thar, soon as we’re in port”

.

He was sweaty and short, a salty sailor sort,

balancing a knife, by the point, in his hand,

“Goin’ back out thar, soon as we’re in port.”

“S’more down below than sea and the sand.”

.

Balancing a knife, by the point, in his hand,

with a tear in the eye for his love lost at sea

“S’more down below than sea and the sand.”

“I ‘spec thar’s an octopus twixt she and me.”

.

With a tear in the eye for his love lost at sea,

he said it like a fishless, fisherman would

“I ‘spec thar’s an octopus twixt she and me.”

“Aye lad, the evidence was on it real good.”

History As Tool ~ A Rondeau

Virginia will celebrate the Confederacy!

and the brave men who died so fearlessly,

ignoring the slavery and pain

brought about by the whip and the chain,

and the tinder-box spark, Harpers Ferry.

After all we seceded so graciously,

it could have all ended so peacefully.

Let's just ignore the blame and the claim,

if only to celebrate the Confederacy.

Our Generals in war stood out peerlessly,

as men in shoddy gear died so cheerlessly

defending the slave owner’s gain.

- But don’t call the Governor insane.

It’s a political calculation, you see,

the audacity to celebrate the Confederacy.

(for Governor Bob McDonnell)

Red Bird Return

Out in our garden,

your hands and the smell of earth.

A red bird observes.

~for Becky, whose mother visits us in spring as a cardinal.

Woman / Water ~ A Cinquain

Jesus:

What have you done?

You travel a hard road.

I am blessed by your hair and tears,

Woman

The Great Garbage Strike Tornado ~ Triolet

I’ll never forget the great garbage tornado

that trashed Manhattan in nineteen eighty three.

It began uncollecting from rot piles in SoHo,

We'll not soon forget the great garbage tornado,

Omnivorous Eddy, the landfill dynamo.

When the city was hostage, the mayor held the key,

never to forget the great garbage tornado,

oh, stinky Manhattan, nineteen eighty three!

For Martin ~ A Tritina

When he came down from the mountain,

he wasn't worried anymore; his joy was not withheld.

He knew the struggle would take them home.

Not again to ride in the rear of these buses home.

Without him, they would cross the mountain,

prejudice, abuse, mistrust, and murder, finally withheld.

In the promised land, grace will not be withheld;

together, we will find our freedom's home.

We will know his courage, when we cross the mountain.

He saw it all from the mountain; the promise not withheld, and the bullet that would take him home.

Martin Luther King was assassinated at 6:01 April 4th, 1968

Quarry

Sunlight surrounds her

like limestone dust on the air.

Transfixed, she waits.

Again, the red maples bud

under shelter of the oak.