R. Gerry Fabian

To Ladies Cauterized By Poets

Okay Caitlin –
So they found him dead drunk in a gutter –
A “leftover life to kill”.
But wait a minute –
Does the rain fall down on his grave?
Of course,
so
the earth sucks his strength.

You know it’s more than just lust words
in a strange combination of beauty.
They make us be the words.
And when the wheel of chance
falls upon obscure creations
we don’t know any better
than to claim the sallow prize.

Post evening always turns gray
with dawn all too obvious.
In that hour before birds sing
A rust colored hue says.
“ You don’t grow up – you grow tired.”

But worst of all
is a goodbye in the form of a letter
because the words are dry
and at least three days old.

 

R. Gerry Fabian is a retired English instructor.  He has been publishing poetry since 1972 in various poetry magazines. His web page is https://rgerryfabian.wordpress.com

He is the editor of Raw Dog Press https://rawdogpress.wordpress.com

His novels, Memphis Masquerade , Getting Lucky (The Story) and Seventh Sense,. are available at Smashwords and all other ebook publishers. His first book of published poems Parallels is available as an ebook and as a paperback at all major bookstores and on Amazon. His second book of published poems, Coming Out Of The Atlantic is slated for publication in 2019.

 

Thomas Zimmerman

Nocturne

The dark outside has made the windows mirrors.
Slight chill curls around my legs, a shark
that visits when I fret. The hope that keeps
me bundled tight is knotted twice but fraying.
All my friends self-medicate. I do
the same: strong coffee in the morning, stronger
beer and sometimes scotch at night. My wife
has got a shoe that squeaks. I hear it now,
and now the clicking of a leash’s metal
lobster-claw. We walk. The moon’s no help:
it only makes the dogs go loco. Now where
drifts to nowhere. Whine of tires on
the nearby interstate crescendos, ebbs,
then rolls and darkens like the ocean’s moan.

 

Thomas Zimmerman teaches English, directs the Writing Center, and edits The Big Windows Review https://thebigwindowsreview.wordpress.com at Washtenaw Community College, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. His poems have appeared recently in Rasputin: A Poetry Thread, Pulp Poets Press, and Nice Cage. Tom’s website: https://thomaszimmerman.wordpress.com/.