A WINTER'S TALE by ROGER TABER

A massive spearhead of shadow
invades the glorious sunset
(once victorious sunset!)
pierces each violet vein of light
till bloody streamers
blot the moon

Weasel lurks at the edge of moody ice,
phantom of this half world

Watch the sun dying,
my dying son,
see the spidery moonlight spread
like tardy concerns on Judgement Day
as ghosts of our recent dead
come out to play


Copyright R. N. TABER
(First published 2001)

from GABBY TYRELL

ON WAITING

No longer could it last

Waiting for her he knew

words would be shards of glass

cutting the air

He heard her stiletto tread

on pavements washed by rain

It's over

he spluttered

She cried

knowing why he had lied

why the phone rang so often

what he had to hide 

the mother of his children

Yet on waiting

she felt her fear subside

knowing he waited

for his divorce and freedom

to marry her

for she had set the trap

and he had fallen

BARBARA SMITH'S

PUBLICLY ALONE

Shiny purple dress

Proud in her corner

Parading her lonliness

Makes me feel bad

She should have lived

In safely 'Sheltered Home'

So she and her loneliness

Would not roam

She sips her sherry

And shows her sadness

All in public

It's obscene

She shouldn't  be here

Spoiling my evening

With her reality

And ruining the beer

by Jim Love

PTSD

(Post Traumatic Sress Disorder)

I can’t go to bed,
Cause the things in my head,
Make it hard to fall asleep.

It’s like it happened today,
and it won’t go away.
Don’t ask me to try counting sheep.

It’s a part of the past,
They say the memories won’t last.
Times a great healer.

When you’re lying in bed ,
They can get in your head,
But only if you go to sleep.

© Jim Love Author's Comments on "PTSD"
Some people can close their eyes and get instant wide screen. Unfortunately everybody deals with it differently.