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NOT ENOUGH
Dorothy S. Brown Two eyes are not enough to drive a car,
Especially when you don't know where you are.
You need another eye to read a map,
Whether it's by your side or on your lap,
Plus one or more for traffic on the street,
And two or three for friends you want to greet.
Two eyes may be enough for riding horses,
But not for driving Buicks, Fords, or Porsches.
WONDERING WHAT I'M UP TO
Walter D. King
The days rush by, I know not why.
Wherever do they all go to?
When I retired, I was inspired
To do all the things I planned to.
But time slipped by, and here am I
Wondering just what I'm up to.
I've been too long without a song
Or a tune that I could dance to.
Without a song, I "fiddled" along,
Putting off things I aspired to.
Still, I refuse myself to excuse
For things that I failed to tend to.
It's New Year's Day, and now I say
I will find that tune to march to
And be as inspired as when I retired
To do all those things I planned to.
I cannot bear to just sit in a chair
Regretting things that I meant to.
From HOLOCAUST COLLECTION
Norma Pyle
ss soldiers laughed, swelled with pride a
as they hurled newborn babies
out of upper story hospital windows
those of us on the street below
stopped shouting…speechless…
we had forgotten what words were
in shock and bewilderment we watched
as baby after baby splattered into the
waiting truck like water-filled balloons
one young soldier raised his bayonet
and began to impale them as they
dropped…horror continued...on it went
i looked around at the hostage crowd
and reality overtook me
i wasn't dreaming after all...
this was real and now i'm quite sure …
i'll never sleep again.
MEANING
Jerry Saylor
Sail beyond the mortal realm
Up in heaven’s blue
On faery wings of gossamer
Seeking what is true.
Far above where eagles fly
Far above the land
Daydreams float like butterflies
O'er a meadowland.
Is it not through words we seek
Truth till it arrives
And finding it, we contemplate
The meaning of our lives.
ONE AMONG MANY
Matthew Mercer
The monogrammed, emerald
green, translucent ball with the
letters F A B in black, etched just
above the two finger holes, had
no number for the weight, but I
fancied it best. It brought with it
that air as though it had
weathered many spares and more
strikes. The thumbhole was
chipped from the time Fillmore
Andrew Barling dropped the ball
behind the step of the wood of the
alley and it bounced on up and
down for a wonder that lived on
in legacy like FAB's plaques on
the wall above the pro shop by
the entrance. But I felt close to
greatness when I used the ball
that was perfect, more than any
since or before Fillmore bought it
along with his signature green
patent leather bowling shoes. I'd
go alone, late Tuesday nights, just
like him, and try to roll my way
in homage toward what he has
represented to me among so many.
A WONDERFUL WINTER DAY
Joyce O’Neal
Chicken-feet frost on window panes,
Frozen ponds and snowy lanes,
Icicles glistening in the sun--
This day is surely made for fun.
Joe builds a snowman six feet high
And snowballs blackbirds in the sky.
On skates touched by magic wand,
He glides across the old millpond.
He pulls his sled up Miller’s hill
To race again with Ted and Bill.
Make-believe knights, these buddies three
Gather around a big fir tree
Where dragons sleep in hare disguise
But are not taken by surprise.
While trudging home to warm their toes,
They hope that winter brings more snows.
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FROM A MIDDLE-EASTERN MOTHER
TO HER DAUGHTER AT HOME-LEAVING
Henrietta W. Romman My daughter, beware!
Stretch not your ear to any word
A friend or foe may say;
Let not malice or anger
Make all your love decay.
Do not believe all sayings
Unless you are quite sure;
Be not easily changed,
For enemies love to allure.
Give not a chance to any
To detain or destroy your plan,
For if you give in once,
They'll ruin you if they can.
Beware then, child, of this and that
Which false friends will report.
Unless you feel you can be careful,
then know you are not their sort.
GIRDLE HURDLE
Doris Hadfield
I know my lines
Are sleek and thin,
My girdle's new,
It holds me in.
But when at last
It gives a little,
I feel no pain
There in my middle.
Though it may cut
Me half asunder,
I now must buy
A firm new number.
In that next world,
Lord, let there be
No such controlled
Rotundity.
PEACEFUL SOULS
Joyce O'Neal In this long-forgotten sacred place
crumbling ancient stones stir feelings of the heart.
Resting on a sturdy fallen limb beside a broken spire
I contemplate an olden way of life, a better way.
Headstones, behind a rusty wrought iron fence
held in place by tangled, thistled underbrush,
reveal fading names and epitaphs of ancestors;
all gentle souls, I'm told; gone long before my time.
It's hard to pull myself away from kindred here.
I feel blessings on this hallowed ground.
Tranquility fills my soul and love fills my heart.
These feelings will bring me back another day.
JUST A BUG
David Cameron Where one large shoe was seen to roam,
A tiny insect made his home,
A humble creature of the sort
That people step on just for sport,
A little guy no one would miss
If he should perish in a "squish."
But in his time of peril, he
In desperation made this plea.
"Please, Shoe, do not oppress me so,
For cruel oppressions tend to grow
Till greater injustices they breed,
And who can say where it will lead?
For there are always larger things
Who like to step on underlings.
Today it's just a bug, it's true,
But tomorrow, sir, it may be you!"
SUNSET
Judy Young The sun put herself to bed.
Laying her scarlet head down
On the edge of forever,
She stretched across the marbled sky,
Stretched her arms wide,
Fingers reaching, streaking
Where she touched the color.
Then slowly, she relaxed, dimming,
Her thoughts resigned to peaceful repose
As she pulled her fingers inward,
Wrapping her arms around her body,
Abandoning herself to dreams
In midnight blue.
IN THE STARS
Matthew Mercer
Your body in light is an inverse onyx,
pure and luminescent, absorbing the day.
And midnight tries in earnest
to darken the room all around you.
You are as a perfectly groomed Manx
mistaken for a stray by my street urchin,
but you belong to the stars, brilliant,
the reason their collections have names.
You, a pearl, wrenched from your ocean
of all the sky where you were nestled
with the gods who tried to keep you
from the demons of time and gravity
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