I realize September isn’t done yet but I’m done with it. (Insert teeth-clenched smile.) I felt like getting a poetry I’ve loved post out there so here it is. I love the diversity of subjects in these poems. Each one gives us something to ponder which is one of the great things about poetry, IMO. Remember to click the link for the entire poem. Enjoy!

Once I Drove off a Cliff and Came Back a Ghost by Heidi Seaborn in Rust + Moth

I hear she lives like the moon: opaque by day, glowing at night.
That she wears bee stings into the universe of online chats
& flamenco red lipstick in the shower.

Poem for the Blackbird by Alina Stefanescu in Poetry Magazine

I don’t remember how night descended, whether feathered
or furred, no poem-bird could hold it. Mom went inside
first. I stood near the pine and lied to love, lied to its face.

The Girls I Grew Up with were Hard by Karyna McGlynn in 32 Poems

The girls I grew up with had cliques & Clinique & wanted to study International Business. Without intending to, their limbs sawed at the new wood of me. I was soft & easily outdone.

The Wind Whispers Storms by Merril Smith on her personal website

The wind whispers, storms—
too soon the blue, the hue
of water-sky. So high the ospreys fly
through shifting clouds, the rustling loud

Markers by Jane Hammons in Tupelo Press’s 30/30 Project (scroll)

Seiders Springs
a trickle but deserving still of yet another Texas State Historical Commission marker

trees and water named after a man
who married the daughter
of the massacred
Gordon White

Coruscating Flame of Dedication by Peach Delphine in Sledgehammer Lit

never walk away from a roux, darkening

in the pot, the making of a meal is the making

of a name, the loss of a name is the loss

of a shell on a beach where sea repeats

it’s litany, day after day

What Were the Members of the Donner Party Hungry For Before They Set Out on the Trail? by Robert Okaji on his personal website

but if I
were to cook myself, toughness (due to age) would be
an issue, and I’d recommend a slow braise in wine
or sake, with parsnips, carrots and minced serrano
peppers. Served over sticky rice, of course.

***

With apologies for discrepancies of form in these snippets of poems. I still need to learn how to format poetry in WordPress’s Block Editor, which I hate.