Five Poems by Duane L. Herrmann

 

THE WORLD ONCE

 

The world glittered.

Even without the sun,

the world glittered

just dimmer

as air flowed like water

the glitter shimmered –

waves passed over

rippling along.

This was time when

invisibles were seen.

Step back, close

both eyes, maybe

you can see

long ago time when

the world glittered

as waves of air

flowed like water

in open hearts

 

 

TWILIGHT TRANSITION

 

Night falls  

and reality  

fades away.

Trees change shape  

and flowers  

find new forms.

Increasing darkness mends  

sharp reality of things.

Air has changed –

softer, soothing,

and the wind:

a gentle breeze.

I no longer need  

an answer  

to my name.

Butterfly teaches   

lessons  

for us all.

Catterpiller dies

so transformation

can occur.

What other self  

can I become?

What new being

might I be?

Let’s go  

find out!

 

 

HOW TO EAT A BOOK

 

Slowly

savouring each bite,

each page,

each chapter,

each paragraph.

Chew it thoughtfully,

carefully,

let the words sink,

deeply,

treasure them,

they are priceless,

and be grateful

for such contact

with another mind –

communion

with a kindred soul;

you are enriched

and continue on.

 

 

MISSING MYSELF

 

Going out,

I am not there,

Staying home,

I'm missing too.

Thinking can be

also problem.

I sit self

and wonder:

where am I?

 

 

 

MIDNIGHT SOFTENS

 

Edges of reality melt,

begin to slip, teeter away

and transform desperate effort

to new world, new

experience, new sensations.

 

Portal to awareness

opens slightly. Who,

what, can slip through?

 

Pain of day has eased,

tomorrow no longer

dreads coming, now

is all that is, and

so very intimate world

no one else can enter

or intrude on midnight.

 

This time, this now

holds secrets so private

you won't remember.

Duane L. Herrmann, internationally published, award-winning poet and historian, has work in print and on-line: Midwest Quarterly, Little Balkans Review, Flint Hills Review, Manifest West, Inscape, Gonzo Press, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, over one hundred other publications, over sixty anthologies, plus a sci fi novel. With branches of his family here before the revolution, and a Native branch even longer, he writes from, these perspectives. 

His full-length collections of poetry include: Prairies of Possibilities, Ichnographical, Praise the King of Glory, No Known Address, Remnants of a Life, Family Plowing, and Zephyrs of the Heart. His poetry has received the Robert Hayden Poetry Fellowship, inclusion in American Poets of the 1990s, Map of Kansas Literature, Kansas Poets Trail, and others. This, despite an abusive childhood embellished by dyslexia, ADHD, cyclothymia, an anxiety disorder, a form of mutism, and now, PTSD. He has carried baby kittens in his mouth, pet snakes, and held conversations with owls, but is careful not to anger them! He was surprised to find himself on a farm in Kansas, and is still trying to make sense of that, but has grown fond of grass waving under wind, trees, and the enchantment of moonlight.