a shadorma sequence
for Joan Fitzgerald Stanley
7/15/32 – 1/13/17
Shadorma For Joan
tomorrow
a journey begins
on the road
headed east
(not that there’s much east of here)
into the sunrise
ocean waves
await her ashes;
family
assembled
steps aboard the final launch
sets her free at last
free at last
but not forgotten
remembered
remembered
alive amid her children
ash is never ash
I’m very happy to have received the hard copy of my poem Preparation in Volume 7 of In Parentheses, a fine New Modernist Lit Mag edited by Phillipe Chatelain, now available in both Print and Digital versions.
This issue, like its predecessors, is jam-packed (+/- 100 pages) with an outstanding mix of poetry (all sorts), prose (fiction, CNF, essay, editorial, etc.) and lots of eye/mind-blowing artwork, multi-media, etc.
Ostensibly, the theme of this issue is “Green”, but the concept is approached so broadly that the reader certainly won’t feel constrained in any way.
You’ll dig it, I’m sure. Meanwhile…
I’ve extracted my poem and posted it here:
Preparation
This (and all prior) issues are available in both Print and Digital versions, distributed through MagCloud.
Discover In Parentheses
Here
Pre-Post-Op
In the morning, almost everyone’s
surprised to be witnessing the sunrise.
Almost everyone feels like they ought to
get out there and make the best of it.
Those who can, do; the rest of them
stay on the ward, names on a waiting list.
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Poets And Storytellers United
Weekly Scribble #80
~ Sudden Moments ~
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Merril’s hosting the Poets’ Pub today, and asks us to use some proverbial language in our works.
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The Best Policy
I know she was hoping I’d come to see
that absence makes the heart grow fonder.
I’ve been on the road for a while now, and
some roads, like stories. have no end.
I guess she thought she knew who I was,
but she was in love, and love is blind.
She must have been blind as a bat:
You can’t lose what you never had.
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dVerse Poets
Tuesday Poetics
~ Proverbialistics ~
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Marionette
When he offered her the ring
he thought he’d gotten
down on one knee
all on his own
but
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Tuesday Twiglet #237
~ a wooden puppet ~
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Home Wrecker
The Utopian plan for the
pendant spidersilk sac,
pregnant,
suspended from its
midsummer eave,
nestled in its high corner,
was to await disgorgement
unfazed by threats of
nonexistent rain, unshaken
by unlikely breezes
but nonetheless thwarted
by the power washer’s
soapy stream.
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dVerse Poets
Quadrille #132
~ Stream ~
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Sevenling (he flew by) *
He flew by her, doing about 90
in a No Passing Zone. She honked
and cursed and flipped him off.
She couldn’t see his writhing wife
hyperventilating in the back seat
giving birth to the second triplet.
Every story: two sides, simultaneously.
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*Not familiar with the Sevenling form? You can read all about it HERE.
Fair Warning: Addictive
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Poets And Storytellers United
Writers’ Pantry #80
~ The Struggle ~
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Slippery
In the dark, he puts his slippers
on the wrong feet; they walk away
and he never sees them again.
Sometimes he misses them,
wonders if they ever think about him,
if they pad around someone else’s kitchen
remembering his hardwood mornings,
his quiet carpeted bedroom nights.
All day long, no matter what he does
or how long it takes, he’s only doing it
to kill some time while he’s waiting,
hoping they’ll find their way home.
But it’s no use, no use. They’re gone,
lost forever in the great wide world, lost
somewhere in the vast asphalt universe,
no doubt someone else’s footslaves,
pacing strange floors at odd hours,
bending to foreign biddings.
He vows never to forget them,
promises himself to remember
their warm, welcoming comfort
but with each rerun sunrise
he can feel them slippering
further and further away.
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dVerse Poets Pub
Open Link Night #296
~ Live Edition ~
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less than half-way home
rest stop men’s room doors are locked
water the bushes
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Poets And Storytellers United
Weekly Scribble #79
~ On My Way ~
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