Micro Book Review #1

About the most wondrous of the five-star books I read ... Other authors with fresh insights and a sense of humor inspire me.

Adi Alsaid's upcoming release Let's Get Lost is a YA novel you don't want to miss no matter what your age. I was lucky to get an advance copy and cruised through it in two days crammed with other work ... and sighed with pleasure and instant nostalgia when I finished it. It's gentle and ferocious and has a crescendo that is so visual your eyes and heart will burst simultaneously. A must read when it comes out!

Check out Adi Alsaid on Twitter! @AdiAlsaid

Polar Vortex

Hidden in an Excel file
that interprets
two different ways
to sell a company
and get not rich
but wealthy beyond
one's wildest imaginings
are the words I need
to pay the rent

Bring on the frost
and gusts wild enough
to bring down wires

I want to light some candles

Bombs

Do not confuse
the dance
with the dancer
The music
with the guitarist
The words
with the poet
The job
with the employee
The missile
with the president
The sun
with the light





Copyright 2013 August

Surprises

Every time I write
I meet a new friend
from an exotic land
I've never visited
I wish I could meet her
for regular lunch dates
I think she would order
dumplings one day
and sushi the next
And her hair would be wild
and a different color
every time
Deep and vibrant hues
Today it's auburn
Her skirts flow
Sometimes she would
even take the check

Copyright 2013 July

St. John's Wort

Winging it

he takes the hill

in his usual bounds

but with his hands

behind his back

his face as open

as the dusky sky

hesitates he does

then says

"flowers"

the wild kind

so humble yet

so powerful

defying years of

thickening scars

I knew their names

once

and I know his

(Written from several sources of inspiration, catalyzed by this lovely site.)

Arms

My mind bends to the ground

like the wind whipped branches

of a willow

scraping where they will dig

to lay the bones

of little children

who never danced

at a prom in the light

of the moon

Who never laid

in a lover’s arms

under the stars

that claimed

“This is your day”

What evil have they been spared

that could have rivaled

what blew their lives

to pieces

A timeless violence

so horrid

that we look away

like the townspeople of Dachau

even though we smell

their bodies burning

and dust their ashes

from our well-shod feet

Three dozen

little arms

snapped in two

like twigs

of brittle lack

of understanding

I long to wrap my arms

around my grown manchild

and my two little women …

three angels still winging

past the rubble

of so many other lives

Copyright 2012

REMembering

Tired and hungry

but too early

for dinner in Italy.

On our plates

Korean dumplings.

The pungent

aroma of Kimchee.

On the streets outside

women of Milano

wafts of Parisian perfume.

In her heart

Geneva and Harrisburg.

All that defies

geography and time.

Copyright 2012