New Poets and Writers

That Sounds Like Fun
By Janice Morton
 

There was, recently, a funeral.
It was our mother's, and it was a bittersweet event.
Pain had now left her, though brushed
Each a little with its' passing.

There was happiness, for a chapter had finished
And had left many unique memories, to savour,
Forever.

There were many stories told, in that six day run.
Some we'd heard: collectively, individually.
There was one that I had not.

It was the story of stolen moments, in the earlier years,
When a youngish, business family,
Cradled: in the fruits of efforts, and of nature,
Would experience hard, or exasperating times,
Keeping the coffers filled and their lives steady.

The range of six children, would be left
To their own, safe devices
While he, a stocky man, with laughing, smiling eyes,
She, with challenging, devilish ones,
And with a Mickey in hand,
Would exit to the privacy
Of their own back room
And giggle
Unguarded.

Things always worked out.
 

A Tear For Loki
By Janice Morton
 

He looked at me,
Held out his hand.
Then,
My fantasy
Began.

Janice Morton Bio: The author is a fifty nine year old mother of two, grandmother of three and lifelong resident of the region of Sudbury, in northeastern Ontario. She has spent her life volunteering, enjoying her friends and family. Janice loves the outdoors, especially water, and considers the Earth her best friend. She loves to laugh, pull pranks and think of science. She also loves plants, and wishes that her thumb was greener. She also loves the Lord.  Janice has been published in Open Minds Quarterly, a Northern Canadian journal promoting mental health.

Editor Notes: These poems are taken from: Wings, Winds and Windy, a charming small book of poems yet to be published that still needs work. What attracted me to this relatively new poet (tomorrow I may have to eat these words) is her love of the land and revelations of poems basic to the human condition(s).
 

I Love the Traveling Christ

By Raymond Keen

 

I saw Christ

jogging

in Wiesbaden.

I saw Christ

eating a hot dog

in New York.

I saw Christ

spitting

on a Berkeley street.

I saw Christ

disrupting the stoning of a woman

in Tehran.

I saw Christ

sleeping

in a Detroit gutter.

I saw Christ

bleeding in a no-fire zone

in Sri Lanka.

I saw Christ

teaching the children

in Burundi.

I saw Christ

feeding the starving

in Chad.

I saw Christ

standing with a man

before the tanks in Tiananmen Square.

I saw Christ

begging for food

in the slums of Zimbabwe.

I love the traveling Christ

who has no place to lay His head.

I love the traveling Christ

with no street address.

Audio of this poem by
Raymond Keen  Poem Read By Michael Lee Johnson, Itasca, IL.

http://promomanusa11058.podomatic.com/entry/2014-04-20T13_27_06-07_00

Bio:  Raymond Keen was educated at Case Western Reserve University and the University of Oklahoma. He spent three years as a Navy clinical psychologist with a year in Vietnam (July 1967 - July 1968). Since that time he has worked as a school psychologist and licensed mental health counselor in the USA and overseas, until his retirement in 2006. He is a credentialed school psychologist in the states of California and Washington, and a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Washington. Raymond lives with his wife Kemme in Sahuarita, AZ. They have two grown children, Anne-Elise and Michael.

"Love Poems for Cannibals" is the author's first volume of poetry. He is also the author of a drama, "The Private and Public Life of King Able," which will be published in 2014. Raymond's poetry has been published in 24 literary journals.

 

Editor Note:  I had the joy of reading many of the poems in "Love Poems for Cannibals," and highly recommend it.