THE GUARDIAN MOON

THE GUARDIAN MOON

That same darn moon with its two full letters

smack in the middle of its name.  It saw us

Here but the moon, it don’t say nothing to us

Anymore.  Just pours that dead grass light

All over the place while we take a short walk

Between the house and the far shed.  We forgot

That three horse harness and remembered we

Were going to use it in the morning and there

Was the moon, waiting for us, partially behind a 

Stand of oaks, waiting for the change in the weather,

“Just like us.”, you said pulling the tack down from

The hooks.  “Just look at that light out there tonight.

Can’t keep it outside at all, crawling all over us

Pale light golden as dream over the whole place.”

ANGELS AND GLACIERS

Terry Schoonhaven

Paulo Paulauskas

ANGELS AND GLACIERS

Angels in large groups are seen

Flying away from cities.

We look underneath our beds and find

Sparks of light smoldering, glints off

Silver and gold baubles left there

So they may be understood as gifts

To others, as a kind of braille to help

Describe wonder and its patterns

Through our nervous system like

Crying children afraid to be left

This alone.  We watch the angels

Depart.  There is little we can do.

The glaciers have receded. So much

More land has been revealed than

We are able to understand.  We are

Offered places to live, carved from stone

By huge sheets of ice.  Lakes are everywhere.

There is really no place to go when

We finally realize the extent of the

Angel exodus.  We look for wings, hope

We may join them, seek other ways

To understand everything that has happened.

Do you remember who I am?

Do you remember that I love you?

A SAILOR'S DREAM

A SAILOR’S DREAM

I have plans for you and have

The names of ships you may board

That will take you to islands, to lands

Where strange things, there the Bong tree

Grows or fairies might gather

By fires at night and warm the

Long ropes of their noses, they do,

And warm the long ropes of their noses.

I will teach you to spell, to light

Saint Elmo’s fire on the top of the mast

And loose it from your mouth

To frighten the birds of the far lands

Who will cluster in toward you

To hear your stories,  If you 

Come to the places I’d lead you,

If you’ll sail on the ships of the night.

Their voices will rise and mix

With the chorus that rides

From the waves to the sky.  There are

Legions that dwell in the depths

Of my body and serve the

Legends of men.  Yes, they do,

They enhance all the legends of men.

And yes, I will go, for my breath

Has the salt as the eye of the dawn

Is blood red and I’ll notch

My footsteps to the heave of the decks

And I’ll sail on forever and then some.

I’ll sail us on through the doors of the night,

You shall see me as a ghost on fogged mornings.  

I’ll be sailing us on through the doors of the night.

Let this dream of the sea be your warning. 

PENTECOST

This poem is the title poem from 'a selxn of poems by D.R. Wagner' published by GREEN PANDA PRESS, CLEVELAND, OHIO 2012 greenpandapress@gmail.com

PENTECOST

The last of nothing drifts by.

All of space is now occupied.

We are now ready to receive

The Holy Spirit.  It does not

Come as tongues of flame,

But occupies the cells of the body

Like crowded subway cars at night,

Full of dozing riders and people

Reading books as if their life depended on it.

We cross the tracks carefully.

We are unable to recognize anyone

We pass.  Balloons of vision lift

From the clouds of people, rise up,

Are lost in a reaching of hands to grasp

The colorful strings dangling from them.

The gift of tongues is ours once more.

Touch our hand and you shall be healed.

No one believes this to be true.  We buy food,

Giving away bars of chocolate and plastic

Wrapped sandwiches.  Some shed tears,

Thanking us as we move forward.

Times like this will come again.

The seas lash the shores.  Tornados

Sweep the kingdom.  Fire consumes

All that is left.  We suffer fools

With their predictions and admonitions.

This is indeed pentecost.  We can not name it other.

Illuminated display boards at the exits flash

Our names and show grainy images of what

We are supposed to look like.  We lose

Ourselves in the crowd, the buzz of understood

Conversations in every language of the world.

HORSES

HORSES

There is never evidence of when

I have made love to you.

The wind addresses the sails

But the tales could be of anyone.

I am just beyond this room

Where the tops of trees

Can show me only the flights of birds.

Then the music fades as if it

Hadn’t expected anyone to be

Listening to it carefully.

So I’ll tell you once again.

This is my heart.  I love you.

It washes away in the wind.

I am confused by the way words

Want to push me away here

And allow a blank white 

Chariot to stand ready but unwilling

To make any move.

I grab  the reins totally uninformed.

I see you there before me.

I can learn. I will know your song.

Sing it to me..