The following is from a recent reading at our local library for the Floyd County Moonshine. It will soon be the 13th anniversary (July 25th) of the death of my brother Jim, who died in a machine shop accident, which was followed a month later (August 29) by the death of my brother Dan, who […]
Poetry drives a red sports car It takes the scenic route It travels light with the top down and rarely gives free rides Poetry drives a hard bargain It won’t settle for middle-of-the-road It doesn’t take shortcuts but beats the traffic It makes up for lost time __________Colleen Redman / dVerse Poets Pub / Real Toads
Bright white heart on night’s dark sleeve A faithful moon proves its constancy ___________Colleen Redman / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
It’s a June moon suspended in the sky waiting for a poet’s push to swing it
May birthday bathing suit launches a girl’s giddy glee that crashes with the cruel news that it’s too cold for the beach _________Real Toads Open Link
I don’t take a pill for depression because I’m still waiting for its lesson I’m in the front row with my hand raised knowing the question and answer are the same I don’t bring an apple or a butter knife to cut it I’ve given up my preoccupation with boys Now I think about which […]
In April I calculate poetry the way others do their taxes as though the world was overdue for a good accounting Bursting to put into words what the birds already know with each emerging daffodil I mark spring’s growing windfall Its affluent bloom and excess of green are annual assets we all get to claim […]
Trapeze moon swings without a net slides the pitch of night’s wide stretch _________Colleen Redman______Open Link Monday/Real Toads
I woke up wanting to see the crane migration in Nebraska or at least an ostrich in the zoo Clouds swept past my window like a clock unwinding like the ghosts of lost loved-ones departing I woke up imagining that I knew the names of birds posed in the treetops waiting to be photographed The […]
The dream of the animal stuck on my head The dream of the woman giving me the finger The dream in which I yell to her “that’s a load of crap” and the one where I call your name out loud and it wakes us both up The dream about dog trainings on how not […]
Beaming beauty Maiden moon From crescent bud to fully bloomed Thorn tipped rose white flower of night courts the sky with its blossom of light ____________Colleen Redman______dVerse Poets Pub
If you are sincere about your work, you won’t know how to do it at times. – David Whyte, poet The broody hen sleeps through sunrise She keeps herself apart from the flock She stubbornly sits like a contemplating poet like a Buddha denouncing possessions Dreaming of worms that won’t wriggle away and mourning the […]
Melting slice of moon ice Poured cocktail spilling light Big dipper of stars toasting the night life The moon is tipsy tonight ________Colleen Redman________dVerse Poets Pub
At first glance one looks like the other but each is unique And the pattern they make is the allure of the story and the body we cling to Some are held dear Others hang by a thread Still others are tightened by knots that must be untangled in the end Or chewed off […]
There’s a danger in looking too long so I close my eyes I let the sun start a fire on my lids turn from magenta to bright red I imagine it making a freckle or dropping a spark of inspiration If I sit long enough in its glow it might illuminate a truth I […]
What happens to the poem after the climax? When you have to re-create the romance? When you have to gamble the progress already made? Invite strangers into your innermost space? What happens to the poem that rolls over and goes to sleep? The pretty face that’s gone in the morning? What about the poem […]
On a lazy Sunday made for folksingers for beatniks and people that read Carl Sagan I’m fishing for lines in Pandora’s box A pink i-Pod set on Cupid’s station I’m looking for wells to throw pennies into or take them out I’m waiting for the part where the harmonica breaks in and Leonard Cohen […]
Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length. – Robert Frost I’m suspicious of the word happy maybe because I think of it as being preceded by slap and I don’t think it can last It reminds me of jolly which rhymes with folly makes me think of giddy which I think […]
