Poets Forum

TIME, VANQUISHED

The black night and the long bright road packed with glaring, blinding light; the tempting neoned words that pass changing soon into mere, cold mass.

Then a block of warner air – two more to go till the house appears. a rap at the door, the sound of a click, the signal lights beam on quick, and a voice so soft echoes near, as two hearts beat love’s message there.

— Dr. John Crawford Arkadelphia

IT’S SPRING!

Spring has come and the air smells great!

Don’t need a date to let me know that flowers grow!

The sound of mowers cutting grass, as lad and lass walk hand in hand across the land,

show me that life’s becoming new for me and you, this lovely day, in the month of May!

— Cathy Parker Alexander

ALARM CLOCK

I was aroused from my sleeping

By a clanging so clear.

It was that cursed alarm clock Saying Monday is here.

Too tired to find the floor with my feet As cobwebs covered my eyes, Grabbing a cup, I’m out the door, Squinting into the sunrise.

Tuesday the traffic lulls me to sleep. Tonight, to bed by eight.

Wednesday arrives deep in the night, That clock is an object of hate.

Thursday, no slack, Friday, the same, That clock, my insurance

Tomorrow is mine, all mine alone, To sleep without disturbance.

There is a dream that comes to me, It’s one where I wake up late.

But Saturday starts promptly at five, With my eye on the clock that I hate.

— Dennis Patton Alexander

HAIKU

swinging on a branch between dogwood blossoms a mockingbird

— Pat Laster Benton

THE RIGHT PLACE FOR DYING

You took your final sleep in a place that was familiar: a hospital bed, a place you knew too well, a place you’d spent time almost every year since I first knew you.

Thirty-six times to surgery and back; grueling, agonizing recoveries.

You are grateful, I’m sure, that Death did not call in some place foreign to you.

Doctors and nurses attended you around the clock for weeks until your heart could endure no more.

Then, you slept... and we wept, and the pain inside your body was denied: The first time in decades you were at peace.

— Harding Stedler North Little Rock

SENYRU

Coffee at sunrise

Pen and Paper in hand Mind a blank

— Sue Watson Benton

To submit poems for publication, please send poems of 16 or fewer lines to Dennis Patton, 2512 Springhill Circle, Alexander, AR 72002, or patton_dr@hotmail.com. The Saline County Branch of PRA is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m., at the Parkview United Methodist Church, 514 North Border Street, Benton, AR, on May 21.