Puns are bad, but poetry is verse

It's been 2+ years since I posted a new poetry journal, which is just unacceptable. Allow me to remedy this by sharing some of my recent faves...

ALLERGY TO A TREE

For no apparent rhyme or reason
The carrier attacks in season
And keeps a constant weather eye
On all its aircraft in the sky;
Micro-raiders, built for stealth,
Who savagely assault my health.
A zillion pilots fly unseen
Evading antihistamine;
With silent guns they shoot the breeze
And bomb on target ...SNEEZE 'n SNEEZE!

Convulsions echo all day long
As in some jungle-mating song;
And all the while my trumpet blows
An everlasting river flows,
Drenching windows in my head
Till monochrome is streaked with red.
At closer range there looms a rash
Of kamikaze drones that crash -
And the poison gas in one fell stroke
Makes me gasp and wheeze and choke.

Poems are magic words revealing
Many a well-defended feeling,
But only a tree can stir and sway
And literally take my breath away.

-Irwin Flescher


THE STROKE

Standing in the Twilight Zone,
Lost in space and all alone
Blindly searching to find me
(Woman that I used to be.)
I could not find me, I was blind.
I widely searched but could not find
The me I knew was somewhere near.
I was confused but felt no fear.
Then in the darkness, in the gloom,
A hummingbird lit up the room.

-Virginia Artrip Snyder


WHEN I WAS ILL

modesty left my side
left me bare
before countless eyes
all the body's mysteries
open for inspection

my once sovereign nation
quickly surrendered
at the prospect of death
and was ruled by doctors
with vain words
on stale breath

resigned to my fate
I tried to retreat
to inner realms
but even my dreams
would humiliate

body is but baggage
for the soul I presume
but that too was examined
by a chubby chaplain
in my room.

-Lew Forester


NIGHT SPELL

Walls have ears
Wind spreads lies
Trees know secrets
Night has eyes.
Bolt the shutters
Listen...wait...
What stranger watches
At my gate?

-Arlette Lees Baker


I HOLD THE SEA
 
Lingering long in surf, on sand,
working on my lobster tan,
risking age spots, dry skin, cancer
in contemplation of an answer
to a question haunting me:
Why did we ever leave the sea

to stretch our legs and walk dry land?
Condemned forever, we are banned
from frolicking as water-dancers,
existing now as geomancers;
we should have planned more carefully
in climbing evolution's tree.

As tears trace streams in brackish strands,
I realize I understand:
The roaring surf is heart entrancing;
its briny warmth is blood romancing.
I'm swept by an epiphany -
I hold the sea inside of me.

-Craig W. Steele


HUMMINGBIRD BATTLE

Three hummingbirds refuse to share,
though on the feeder hanging there
four equal plastic perches flaunt
the sweet these three so keenly want.

With rapier beaks and threatening thrums,
en garde in case another comes,
they thrust and feint with vicious skill
to have it all, or no bird will.
 
For hours, the airborne battle spins
in warfare no one ever wins,
and meanwhile sips the humble bee
the bounty given all for free.

-Barbara Loots


AUTUMN SONG

When autumn bites the brittle air,
We raid the cedar chest
For patchwork quilts and fluffy downs
To line our winter nest.

We gather chestnuts in the woods
To roast before the snows
And ball our scarlet yarn for socks
To toast our winter toes.

We bunch our beds beneath the beams
And cut a length of log
And share the cracking woodbox warmth
With cat and mouse and dog.

We save a sad, sweet memory
For summers burning bright
Then cuddle up with cocoa cups
To greet the frosty night.

-Arlette Lees Baker

WAY AWAY
 
Way away the dream seems distant
Calling out to those who hear.
Someone starts, and in an instant
Everything is clean and clear.

"Here it is!" The hearer hastens,
Not to wait another day,
Live the dream, the Spirit chastens.
Put to bed the way away.

-Walter Stormont


Feel free to share some of your favorites!