Post election – a Feeling
by GARY LINDORFF
I took a walk up the hill yesterday.
It was a little muddy for sneakers.
I could feel the chill
Coming up through my soles.
At the top I turned
And was surprised to see
That the sky to the west,
Backlighting the hills,
Was the same intense orange
As the posted sign
In the field.
Instead of heading back down
I kept walking a bit,
Glancing over my shoulder
At the sunset
Now fading to rose.
The pond too surprised me;
It was the color of red wine,
Black cherry. . .
The curve of the apple tree,
Rooted in the bank,
Joined to its reflection,
Formed the perfect bracket
For my restless spirit.
(I might have kept walking.)
But soon it would be dark.
There is a certain feeling
These days that I can’t seem to out-walk,
A certain surrender
To the work that lies ahead.
Work that has little to do
With who wins elections
But more to do with
Being surprised by
Wine-colored water
And sunsets that linger
Just long enough
To light the way home.
Gary Lindorff, TCBH!’s resident poet, is an artist, musician, poet and counselor / dream-worker who practices shamanic techniques, and who lives in rural Vermont with his wife Shirley and two dogs. He can be reached at maleotter@gmail.com.
The Informer
by ROBERT A. DAVIES
Father, mother, son
are in a hospital ward with an aide
still no bed
the father’s heart racing alarmingly.
The mother declares, That one has AIDS
that he didn’t have to get.
And no bed for You.
The son blushes.
The son has come to know his father
even to like him.
Until recently
he’d rarely seen him:
once on a walk in the park
on one of the weekly visits to his house
twice by chance on the street.
A bed becomes available.
She turns to the man who returned
after 40 years:
I’m not deserting You
the way you left the woman you lived with
after She got cancer!
The son turns pale, turns away.
Years later he wonders
if his mother was informing Him,
something not to explore.
Robert A. Davies lives. He has appeared many times in CounterPunch. He can be reached at rjdavies3@comcast.net.
The Scientific Heretic
by COREY COWAN
I’m a scientific heretic
Singing in the Pure Revue
Seeking imperial evidence
That my beliefs are true
I need no math to add up
Nor eloquent elocution
To believe that God created me
Not Darwinian evolution
I came not from a monkey
Nor a one-celled organism
But from the light of Divinity
Diffused through Eden’s prism
Clay was used to make Mankind
And it wasn’t very pretty
The goal is to rise up like light
Not to get all down-and-dirty
I’m a by-product of incest
Between Adam and his daughters
And between the children of Noah
After the receding of the waters
To Hell with postulations
And scientific inquiry
I’m here for trials and tribulations
Or at least that is my theory
Corey Cowan is currently unemployed, writing poems and songs in his spare time when not looking for gainful employment or playing guitar in Restless Leg Syndrome, an Americana Band that plays in the Puget Sound area. He has freelanced in web design and graphics design and worked a day job as an equipment trainer in a warehouse setting. Inspired by his late Grandfather, Robert E. Cowan, who had penned hundreds of poems, Corey is now actively trying to master the fine art of poetry and song writing. He is also digitizing many of his grandfather’s well-crafted poems, which he may submit at a later time.
Editorial Note: (Please Read Closely Before Submitting)
Poets Basement is now on Facebook. Find us as http://www.facebook.com/poets.basement.
To submit to Poets Basement, send an e-mail to CounterPunch’s poetry editor, Marc Beaudin at counterpunchpoetry@gmail.com with your name, the titles being submitted, and your website url or e-mail address (if you’d like this to appear with your work). Also indicate whether or not your poems have been previously published and where. For translations, include poem in original language and documentation of granted reprint/translation rights. Attach up to 5 poems and a short bio, written in 3rd person, as a single Word Document (.doc or .rtf attachments only; no .docx – use “Save As” to change docx or odt files to “.doc”). Expect a response within one month (occasionally longer during periods of heavy submissions).
Poems accepted for online publication will be considered for possible inclusion of an upcoming print anthology.
For more details, tips and suggestions, visit CrowVoiceJournal.blogspot.com and check the links on the top right. Thanks!