I Smell Like a Flower?
Drawing and Limerick by George Asdel
The
biggest Monarch I’ve seen
told me her name was Maureen
You smell like a flower
I’ll sit here an hour
for a break in my daily routine
My
Buddy by Betty Finocchiaro
You left me, Buddy
without a sound
without even a goodbye
You left me, Buddy
bereft and heavy-hearted
I found you asleep
or so I thought
peaceful as a moonlit night
I will miss you always
the sound of your bark
your protective ways
your young gait
that grew into middle age
and without my seeing it,
you grew old, as did I,
right before each other's eyes
I aged with you
month by month
year by year
lived your decline until
you knew it was time to go
And like in a song of yesteryear
I, "just long for you to understand
My Buddy, My Buddy
Your buddy misses you." |
Unsettling
by Connie Shepard
How did you get inside?
You were not asked to come
But when I cracked open the door
you slid your soul within
The place you’ve touched is
out of bounds.
Reserved
for those who know me well.
You are a stranger.
Don’t you know your place?
You are a name on a chart
a diagnosis, a blurred face.
But then you had to thank me
and recite Haiku to me
tell me you’re a poet and
reveal what you could be.
You’ve become a person with
a present and a past.
How can I now file your face
along with all the rest?
Forgetting is required in a
dismal place like this, where to remember and
to care takes more than it can give. You are
unforgiven for a new rent in my shield. |
