My husband has tools for digging potatoes but I like to use my hands Reaching down deep into the musty dark soil mounded up like swollen bellies I feel around for the curve of their bodies wiggle them loose like teeth Born into my hand without the sharp edge of a shovel more than twins […]
Like Kanye with MAGA hat and cape? Like an athlete on steroids? Like tiger-blooded Charlie Sheen? Is winning really everything? Would Trump have won the presidency without the help of Russians? Is winning the record for telling lies really winning? Are you winning at someone else’s expense? Can you win them all? Have you lost […]
It’s like writing a poem every night from scratch I don’t know how to do it or believe it’s going to happen but every night it does I wake but don’t open my eyes I don’t put demands on the day or guide the direction of thoughts I don’t want the first thing I remember […]
Conserving energy and reading Emerson “Our life is an apprenticeship to truth… Around every circle another can be drawn” and repeated without end throughout nature Church bells ring as I lie in the corpse pose Holding my emotions like a bouquet Confidence wilts as I wait to meet my destiny Doubt is a minefield of […]
1st comes the heartbeat then the search for the nectar in the Garden of Eden on an island called Mother Next comes the first cry and the need to be rocked I got my start in rocking cradles Keeping time with the poem eternal Then went on to harder stuff Not trusting the heartbeat would […]
Lovely as lilies and sweet as peas Emily loves Josh like shamrocks are lucky Josh loves Emily like sunflowers love sun Glad as gladiolas Gold as chrysanthemums Happy as daisies We’re pleased as bees For Josh and Emily’s blooms and blessings As dear as dahlias in every color Their forget-me-not love is the rarest flower […]
Like a maestro conducting three networks at once I flip discordant channels looking for escape Soundbites break skin What isn’t said blares loudly I watch the burning house with people inside it They show engulfed bodies then move to feel-good fluff while the warden tries to convince me the firefighters are the enemy ________Colleen Redman […]
The days of life scatter like the goldfinches on Woods Gap Road The closer I get the faster they go in a fleeting ripple of beauty that won’t be seen up close Rising from the roadsides they leave me in the dust They fly from my heart like children who have grown like children never […]
Poets Rhyme Sugar with Teacup and Saucer. They alliterate Morning with Mug. My friends Katherine and Chelsea and I were recently asked to read our tea poems at a Ladies Tea, held at the Manor House Teas in Floyd. There were savories and sweets, sips of wine and tea, along with our poetic brews. Katherine read […]
Crepe-myrtle is summer’s answer to lilacs in the spring Happy girls bouncing with berry-red pom poms shaking in the breeze while ironweed purple and goldenrod yellow in September school colors play the field ___________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
We are a crossword puzzle When I go down you go across but we meet at some point to make sense of each other Every word counts Every blank space is a mirror to see ourselves better _____________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
I caught a firefly in a jar because I couldn’t remember doing it as a child Because it laid at my feet like a crashed offering A shiny object that caught my attention like the early morning drowning when I thought about the ocean ‘why did I ever leave it?’ ‘how can I live without […]
Shadow Shot Sunday
My mother’s clothes arrived in a dream just a bit too large and dated I didn’t recognize the folded shirts the shoulder-padded dress with faded patterns of blue or gray What should I do with their heavy weight their empty reminders that no one can fill? I imagine them packed in thrift shop boxes hanging useless […]
The birds are like children that wake me too early and I’m a neglectful parent who closes all the windows Their playful songs call but I don’t answer They remind me of everything I’ve left undone I love them all but not like this It’s too early to chirp sunny side up on the bright […]
Punctuated poetry with arbitrary line breaks is like prose poured into a little black dress Every period that stops where a line already has is a button waiting to pop Every comma that dangles at the edge of empty space is a thread that could lead to unraveling Every new line capitalized in the middle […]
My poet friend in India heard the wind confessing but here in America I heard it complain It stirred like a conscience warning of consequences when winners against losers are the rule of law From hush to bluster in the simmer of summer the wind gave voice to voiceless children helpless hostages held to stop […]
Are poems like eggs? Do I only have so many? Am I born with all the poems I’ll ever write inside me? While new ideas swirl like a million unborn secrets Conceived but not delivered they tease but don’t get written ________________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads
