Wild Rabbits
I just cannot resist
the rush of sunlight bouncing off ink lines
scratched onto a page
as though a hen
was scratching for grub
in the yard.
Or the evening shadows
cast along the tree line
by the distinctive ears of wild rabbits
out near the burn pit,
just past the tool shed,
under the swing.
I just cannot resist
jotting the scene down into ink lines,
before it disappears,
as if it were all very real,
as if the grief was in the distant
past,
out back, near the burn pit,
under the swing.
-
American Roulette
Pick a color.
Turn the tumbler.
Go for broke. Do not
remove
a bullet.
Add an AR-15.
Raise
the stakes. Raise
the flag.
Put more lives
on the line.
Add another
caliber, another
eight hundred rounds
per minute,
armor-piercing.
Raise the flag.
Add religion.
Add gender. Add gender ID.
Turn the tumbler.
Add TNT.
Add megatons.
Go
for broke.
Stand your ground.
All lives
in.
-
Expulsion Figure
after a cast bronze sculpture of the same name
by Michael O’Keefe, 2009
As if she were caught
in transition, half fading away,
almost wispy in the mist.
Her ancestors were Catholic—
perhaps “papists,” as they say,
and disfavored.
As a people, they faced exile,
stripped of their livelihood and land.
Many fought the Crown and died.
Some were imprisoned at Halifax
and Fort Edward, as if cast
in irons or bronze.
The remaining escaped to Quebec
or Louisiana (a so-called “free state”)
by way of what is now called Haiti.
She wears Acadian scars,
half fading away, perhaps as though
teleporting through time.
-
Okay . . . a win, a place & a show: "Wild Rabbits" earned a 1st place, "American Roulette" garnered a 3rd place, and "Expulsion Figure" was awarded 2nd place in their respective categories in the 2020 Ohio Poetry Day contests, and were published in the contest compilation chapbook, Ohio Poetry Day: Best of 2020.
Eric
