Friday, October 23, 2020

Ohio Poetry Day Trifecta


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