Missouri Poets & Friends

POETS & FRIENDS (Springfield, Missouri)

MEMBERS: As of March 1, 2007, there were 20 members in Poets & Friends, the chapter that for ten years served as the state member of the National Federation of Poetry Societies and in November of 1998 founded the Missouri State Poetry Society.

MEETING DATES, TIME, AND PLACE: Poets & Friends meets at 6:30 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month, unless otherwise noted, at the Brentwood Public Library (2214 S. Brentwood) in Springfield.

OFFICERS: OFFICERS: Current officers are President Bob Franklin, Vice-President Steve Kimberling, Secretary Becky Cline, Treasurer and Contest Chair Marsha Becco, Museletter Editor Don DePriest, Historian Bob Franklin, Membership and Publicity Joe Ryan, and State Society Representative Marsha Becco.

PROGRAMS: Each month the society holds a brief business session before the main activity of the evening: read-arounds of poetry by the members. Additional meetings include poetry readings at elementary schools and senior residence centers as well as a special Poetry in the Park day to which the public is invited. The group produces a monthly newsletter, Museletter, and conducts annual contests. A recent issue of the online Museletter is available at the chapter's web site: http://www.poetsandfriends.com/

CONTACT PERSON: Those interested in attending a meeting of this group to see if they would like to become members are invited to bring some poems to Brentwood Library on a meeting night. The society meets in the Community Room. Questions can be answered by David Thomas at dthoma03@yahoo.com or 1848 E. Berkeley St., Springfield, MO 65804.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED POEMS INCLUDE THESE:

CARDINALS
Jennifer DiCamillo

Fat-bellied cardinals eye me
From stark branches against a snow
Encrusted embankment so tall
Much higher than me or the tree
It would block out the sun if clouds
So thick that they coat the whole sky
Weren’t filling in the spaces
Behind the cardinals’ bright red
Feathers so crimson that I squint
Wondering if they will dive bomb
The bird seed I just poured for them

MONA LISA
Don DePriest

I’d like to write a Mona Lisa
A piece with grace and style
That captures the eye, intrigues the mind
And leaves a mystic smile

SPRING THAW
Sue Klingner

An Indian woman taught me
To walk with my eyes straight ahead
My feet down the center of streets
So sidewalk men would not pull me
Into the shadows of buildings.

Why is it now that I want you
To pull me into your shadow
Where the warming fog of your breath
Melts my stiff frostbitten body
And your kisses burn like whiskey?

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.

MONA LISA
Don DePriest
Poets and Friends

I’d like to write a Mona Lisa
A piece with grace and style
That captures the eye, intrigues the mind
And leaves a mystic smile

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.

AUTUMN LEAVES
Joyce O’Neal

Silently they fall in numbers,
Blowing, glistening in the sun.
Children play among the colors,
Laughing, rolling, having fun.
Grumbling men curse nature’s litter
While ridding yards of autumn’s call.
Women sigh, see only splendor
Hanging on in winds of fall.

LOOKING UP
In Memory of Walter D. King
David Thomas

He wrote of life of love
Of family of war.
His nostalgia was magical,
Leaving us wanting for more.

Whether or not his
Intended objective,
He certainly knew how
To put things in perspective.

On a horrible day with
Many a problem unfurled,
I read some Walter and
All's right with the world.

Thank heaven for this man
Who left us so much.
May there be no end
To the hearts he will touch.

I wish I knew then
What I know now
But I know in my heart
He understands somehow.

The title of hero
He certainly would eschew
But Walter's someone
I'll always look up to.

WATER DROPS
Jean Even

Water drops on the way
Sparkles in the sun with display
Like diamonds in a ring.
Small are they, clinging tightly to bring
About some hope of lingering.

The last drop to fall is the weakest.
The weakling is disappearing
Into the unseen, vaporizing
So they can come another day
As liquid diamonds on display.