Poetry – Page 8 – PLEASE SEE ME

OLD_PSM14_Poetry-Miriam Bassuk

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 O.L.D. by Miriam Bassuk O.L.D. “You suffer from O.L.D.” The doctor tosses off this disclaimer to discount my newest symptom. I’ve started to cringe at friends a decade or more older, whose gait has slowed, their balance challenged, leading to frequent falls. It’s a watershed moment to mourn what we see in the mirror. It’s not the creases or wrinkles, or the flabby neck. It’s the failures, the new pace, s l o w ed way down, muscles that refuse to ...

2Poems_PSM14_Poetry-Laurie Rosen

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Two Poems by Laurie Rosen An Apple a Day requires 1.5 units of insulin in a syringe that pierces her tiny arm. A trade-off for a snack consumed to keep the doctor away. I read all the books on mothering, Spock, Brazelton, Leach. Nothing prepared me. Here, take the needle, practice on an orange, said the doctor. An orange doesn’t stare with tearful eyes, doesn’t plead, Please, Mom, no! Our blackberry patch grows thick with fruit and thorns. We greedily nosh, filling ...

My-Soldier-My-Son_PSM14_Poetry-Diane Funston

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 My Soldier, My Son by Diane Funston My Soldier, My Son (his war against childhood mental illness) At war, voices of authority command him to act. He seeks to draw blood, maim and alter the plans of what went before, leaving a barren field where dreams once grew green and reached for sun. Napalm spreads quickly beneath the shelter of skull. At peace, he rests his head on my weary shoulder. Watching the tv flicker more ...

Recipe-for-Madness_PSM14_Poetry-Angela Y. Law

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Recipe for Madness by Angela Y. Law Recipe for Madness Based on “Translating the Crip” by Laura Hershey I need no explanation short of miracle but still you ask I’ll tell you my secret When I say sick I mean nobody can save me if you deny my power When I say magic I mean dancing and talking to myself for days When I say survival I mean waking up but leaving brothers and ...

Father-of-Mine_PSM14_Poetry-Dave Malone

Poetry Issue #14: Acceptance April 15, 2024 Father of Mine by Dave Malone Father of Mine I’ll soon forget it: what is there I have not forgot? —James Schuyler My father phones (he’s not one to text) to ask about last summer’s expedition to our ancestor’s grave—William Whitney, he says, but I know he means another relative, the preacher on his mother’s side. “Ninety miles through rice fields we drove. Do you remember?” he asks. And his voice lies down quiet in the unknowing, just shallow breathing ...

Sage-Brush-Excursions_PSM13Poetry-Ally-Companazzi

Poetry Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24th, 2023 Sage Brush Excursions by Ally Campanozzi Sage Brush Excursions #1: Standing at the Trail Head It’s the first day, sentenced to the outback excursion. We’ll be roughing it, expected to get a grip on life, learn new things, adapt, find personal atonements. The time has come. It’s time to stop wearing maniac queen crowns. Stop spending all this time staring through rearview mirrors. Focus now, look deeper into windshield futures at the desert vacancies overhead. Head ...

Three_Poems_PSM13Poetry-Darcy_Smith

Poetry Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24th, 2023 Six Poems by Darcy Smith Community Room Memorial 300 lbs of sinew, he collapsed on concrete, a sudden streak of blood on the sidewalk. No one knew what took him or what put him on the ward, a locked life didn’t suit him. He needed a field for his towering tai chi, his lumbering decorum, origami boxes, cranes, stars. We couldn’t name his demons but felt their whip and chase when his eyes dulled, when ...

Two-Poems_PSM 13POETRY-Judith_Skillman

Poetry Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24th, 2023 Two Poems by Judith Skillman God Knows Any sixteen-hand Paint can trample a man. That’s why you’ve got to be careful of a skittish horse. I walk behind my daughter, perched in all her glory on Sid, name my father adopted because he was teased for being Oscar. Oscar four eyes, Oscar four eyes. God knows I am not afraid of horses. Rode English when I was young. Turned out into a ...

Car-Cure_PSM13Poetry-Joe_Cottonwood

Poetry Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24th, 2023 Car Cure by Joe Cottonwood Car Cure Blended with the floor boards, so we named him Oak. Stood like a sawhorse blocking a child from the street as if to say I will not let you die. A predator, ate teddy bears. More than anything loved to ride in our car. Stumbled one day groaning to the yard, collapsed on a bed of blooming lilies. In the house Rose discovered he’d eaten most of a braided ...

Bobbi-I-Am-Healing_PSM13Poetry-DionHadley

Poetry Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24th, 2023 Bobbi, I am Healing by Hadley Dion Bobbi, I am Healing You spend your last afternoon looking out the front screen door. Your kidneys practicing betrayal, your sophisticated stance, all bone and bloat. Hosting your own memorial. Neighborhood strays and patio spiders paying their respects. After euthanasia, the vet lets me take you home, your body wrapped in woven nap time blanket. I lay you on the living room table and drink prosecco until the sky swallows the ...