Poets Forum
JANUARY PRAYER
Thank you, Father, For the joy of new beginnings.
Just inside the doorway of a new year, we pause to ask for wisdom and courage and guidance, that when this year is spent, we will have spent it well.
Free us from the way of old mistakes.
Help us not look back upon smudges and grudges, except to learn of forgiveness, and count the learning again.
You’ve given us a clean, new slate to receive the thoughts, words, and deeds that tell the world who we are and whose we are.
Make us mindful that we are your handiwork.
Make us think as you thought, touch as you touched, speak as you spoke, and to use the gift of time as if there were no tomorrow.
— Faye Boyette Wise Deceased
WALKING IN WINTER
The exercise track is deserted today except just for me and another.
My coat is too thin and I think with a grin,
“I wish I had taken the other.”
My feet pick up speed as I near the bright sun.
The shade that I craved all last summer I shun.
The sun’s rays are friendly and help keep me cozy.
If I’d stayed home, I’d be feeling quite dozy.
As I turn the next corner and face the north wind, a squirrel questions my right to be here.
I smile at the anger and promise him then in a short while I won’t be near.
But the day is too nice to have stayed in the house.
If I’d holed up and vexed, I’d feel like a louse.
So I head toward the sunlight with unseemly haste
And I hope all the walking is whittling my waist.
—Betty Lynn Walker Benton
HAIKU
morning sun highlighting the snow on the squirrel’s nest
— Pat Laster Benton
REMEMBERING TOGETHER
Following the path the moon drops on the snow we run through drifting white curtains on cloud-spun carpets. We dare the frozen creek and laugh at winter’s jewels sparking our faces.
I feel your breath, your hands, I hear your voice, and yet I dare not look behind me for fear that I shall see no footprints, but my own.
— Helene Stallcup Deceased
YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
I roam through all the cutout/saved poetry in my local newspaper.
I have delighted in seeing, my poems, name, in print.
After years and years of doing this,
I have come to know the excitement of seeing poems that my poetry friends have published!
They are so good at poetry!
The years go by.
Among the joy of reading my poetry friends published poems, are poems written by my deceased poet friends.
A sadness sits on the page, with the joy!
— Cathy Parker Alexander
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 January 28, 1:00 pm, at the Parkview United Methodist Church, 514 North Border Street, Benton.