Here are the first two (out of three) of Richard’s poems that we’ll be publishing. Reading these really is like sitting in a gentle misty rain on an overcast day. Things are wet, but the sun’s presence is apparent through the clouds’ diffusiveness.
We enjoyed them. We hope you will, too.
___
November 21st
Cold today.
Grass still
Wet. An old push-
Mower rests,
Rusts, near
A weed-strewn
Shed. Clouds collide
In a wary
Sky. Sun low,
Hidden, behind
Long pines
And cedars
That line the wind-
Break side
Of these fields.
Cold today.
Sometimes
I wish winter
Would tell us
What it really
Intends when it takes
The faint pulse
Of these bare-
Shouldered trees.
~~~
Not in Service
As I sit on this bench, waiting
in the rain, each passing city bus
announces the same destination
across its front. Not in Service.
God knows, I probably deserve it.
Punishment for last Sunday,
on my way to the golf course,
playing hooky from Mass,
and the sign in front of church,
all in caps, like at a Seven-Eleven,
letting everyone know like the message
on that bus where currently I am not.
___
Richard is a former professor of educational psychology and special education at Miami University in Ohio now residing in California. His poems and stories have appeared in numerous literary journals in the United States and internationally in Canada, Australia, Europe, and Asia. His poems have been nominated for the Pushcart prize and two poems recently appeared in Realms of the Mothers: The First Decade of Dos Madres Press. His latest book of poems will be forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in 2019. Richard’s webpage and blog may be found at richardluftig.com