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January 2001
Poetry Page
tick tock
tock...tock...tick...
ratcheting
up,
around our
necks
time tightens its
grip.
tock...tick...tock...
now is
dismembered
by relentless
hands
of murderous
clocks.
- Rick Klaus
Theis
http://members.aol.com/mwpress
Killing
Today
The grandfather gongs
twelve
Each ring
Is a poison
dagger
Killing
The last remnants of
today
Burying the body
in
Yesterday
With a virgin
tomorrow
Coming of age
today
As it
seductively
Walks by you
- Dustin
Gray
Great Southern
Theater
Cast takes a
bow
As we applaud the
performance
People standing
And the roar of
approval grows
I stand too
Putting on my own
special act
In this palace soaked
with gold
Clapping away as the
world burns and life dies
I am now with the
pretty people
The apex of
society
You can smell
it
Nice and
artificial
And as I clap the third
encore
Julia Butterfly Hill
sits cold in a tree
And I wonder
As I am surrounded by
all these people
Which of us is
lonelier?
- Brian Scott
Norris
Requiescat
God outfoxed
me.
He took my
cat.
I could never
believe
she would betray
me
by using up all her
nine lives.
My pain floated
skyward
after her
soul
to rain-filled
clouds.
In life and in
death
she splayed her ears up
and out
like anthers in the
heart of a lily,
expectant for my "I
love you."
I could not place her
dead
furry shell
in an ugly
place,
so I dug deep her
grave
and put over
it
a crude collection of
stones
surrounded by
catnip.
Waters from
clouds
mingled with my
tears
and consoled
me.
The plants
greened.
Hopeful I am to meet
her again,
sitting on the lap of
Jesus.
- Rose
Ann Spaith
originally published in Reflect
Summer 2000
Rose Ann Spaith is
author of The Cats of the Rose Garden,
a 34-page chapbook of poetry available for $3 plus $1 S&H.
It can be purchased by sending check or money order to Rose Ann
Spaith,
159 Delhi Avenue, Columbus, OH 43202.
Designer
Not Required
What?
You don't recognize the
label
On my shoes
Neither do I
That's why
I'm so happy,
'cause
It didn't cost me
much
To be different
From all the
sameness
And the
shameness
They try to tack
on
You.
- Laurence
Overmire
black cat
following the winter
sun
from room to
room
- YVONNE
HARDENBROOK
Haiku Headlines, 1992
The editor welcomes all
submissions of poetry.
Any number of poems may be submitted.
Send manuscripts to Sam the Cat, Poetry Editor,
Short North Gazette, 404 Thurber Drive West, Suite 9.
Columbus, Ohio 43215. Poets will be paid $5 for published
poems.
Old Pioneer
I tried to move a
mountain once
But I didn't realize
the mountain was
A mountain.
Now I know a mountain
when I see one
And take my chances on
the river.
- Laurence
Overmire
Manmountain
brown,
green
Hankerhunkering
over the
ocean
this
woman
- Anne
Pahlavi
Mother Earth
All that I see is your
face,
All that's green and
brown and blue &endash;
The jungles of
Jamaica,
The mountains of
Montana, the sands of Sudan,
When the surf sprays
sun on red tile roofs,
The sun sweats rain on
mud and thatch,
But no one who stays
the night wants
To leave the next
morning.
I stand on your horizon
and marvel &endash;
As graceful as Anna
Pavlova, you spin.
- Beverly
Zeimer
The Best
Poets
The best poets are not
published,
Unanimous in their
anonymity.
The best poets are not
famished &endash;
Ravenous for
publicity.
The best poets do not
brandish
Their words in endless
enmity.
The best poets never
vanish;
Their lives of love are
the poems
Of eternity.
- Rick Klaus
Theis
http://members.aol.com/mwpress
The editor welcomes all submissions
of poetry. Any number of poems may be submitted.
Send manuscripts to Sam the Cat, Poetry Editor, Short North Gazette,
404 Thurber Drive West,
Suite 9. Columbus, Ohio 43215. Poets will be paid $5 for published
poems.