Tuesday, 16 April 2024

Three Poems by Cliff Saunders

 



WILD ABANDON 

 

Our hearts sing us a song,

one of concentrated beauty,

 

one of compassionate voice,

one that has shaken us

 

to the core of dreams

that entrap us in the past.

 

Our rainbow of all stripes

is glorious and transportive,

 

but it is also sadly fleeting.

Excited and scared, we

 

row boats of mistletoe

across a choppy inlet

 

as we seek to keep

the peace between compass

 

and instruction manual.

Now that we have proof

 

of our salvation, let’s dance

wildly on the foggy coast.

 

What else is drifting away

from us besides the moon?

 

Perhaps one lone sailboat,

wrapped in fog, free at last! 

 


THE CULTIVATOR

 

Always on the perimeter of grass

I grow forms of me that include

green crabs and sky signals—

mine to incapacitate, shadows and all.

 

This is where isolation and my life

go hand in hand. And the relationships

I make along the way to the slopes

of sleep save me from the grave.

 

 

THE NEW GUARD 

 

What they said

to the fall creek

flowing past leaves

beneath a fragile peace

was love personified.

And they danced

by the light

of the moon, the moon,

the moon they wanted

to be a part of.

Why did they do it?

Their path through

the eyes of time

saved their lives,

moving like pawns

on the chess board

of change. They felt

so full of spirit that

they lost white trees

prized by all,

they lost weeks

of winter to the islands.

It cost them dearly.

 

Forging their way

through the smoke

of the old guard,

they left rainbow lights

on fishing piers,

they left pots

for sugary treats

on the blustery coast

of their own lives.

Why did they swing

thousands of daffodils

in their blistered hands?

Because they saw





Cliff Saunders is the author of several poetry chapbooks, including Mapping the Asphalt Meadows (Slipstream Publications) and The Persistence of Desire (Kindred Spirit Press). His poems have appeared recently in The Rockford Review, Exacting Clam, Concision Poetry Journal, ArLiJo, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and The Evening Universe.

 


1 comment:

  1. I have always enjoyed your writing and I am glad to see that you are still at it!

    ReplyDelete

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