I Will Always Be Waiting

Strawberry Field, Central Park, New York City

I will always be waiting,
Anticipating
Our Time together

Linden Tree

If I could keep this: this linden tree feeling
when all-time melts into one stiff driveway

and I can only fold a love song into telephone
lines. There’s a satellite that will take me
           any-

Quaint Sayings of Uncle Jeff: On Benevolence

A child of the heartland, Iva Beatrice Core (1903-1987) grew up and lived most of her life in Richland Center, Wisconsin. As a young woman of 26 in 1929, Iva was determined to collect and write down the quaint sayings of her Uncle Jeff for posterity's sake.

Casey at the Bat

A respite from winter? Spring training opens for pitchers and catchers.

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville Nine that day;
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that —
They'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

What Is Your Desire?

The Love Bug Strikes Again on Valentine's Day!

What is your desire?
Is it a heart shaped box full of chocolates,
long stemmed roses,
a bottle of champagne?

Tourist in my own life

I am a tourist in my own life
Everything I am feeling
Is foreign land
I cannot quite recognize
This impasse
Is it really I —
I am a tourist in my own life

Poetry Foundation Seek Submissions for Fellowships

Submissions will be accepted from March 1 - April 30.

CHICAGO – Five poetry fellowships in the amount of $25,800 each will be awarded to young poets through a national competition sponsored by the Poetry Foundation. The awards are among the largest offered to young poets in the United States.

The new fellowships honor two extraordinary women and their commitment to poetry and give five young poets a more auspicious start to their careers.

The One That Slipped Away

I will wait for you no longer
  I will walk into the dark
I will watch no more forever
  for the love that gave me a spark

The Beggar

The smiling faces of beggars
Beseeching charity
From exposed street corners
Audaciously revealing
The dirty shame of fortune.

Men of Nantucket

The moon casts a shadow stretching across
cold murky water embraced by the winds
all rushing towards their impending loss
and men seek forgiveness for all their sins

Colored Heroes, Hark The Bugle

DuSable Museum of African-American History

Colored heroes seek your standard,
 Know you not the foemen's near,
Know you not how they'll enslave you,
 You and yours, who are so dear.
Gather then, combine for freedom,
 Fight for that and bravely die,
Only cowards turn their faces.
 Cowards they, who turn and fly.

First Lines Second Thoughts — Black Boy

First Lines Second Thoughts is a look at the first lines of well known literary works.
On second thought, do these opening words stand alone as poetry? In recognition of Black History Month we visit Richard Wright's Black Boy. Published in 1945.