The August Editor's Pick Poet is Claire T. Feilds
Please feel free to email Claire at: ctillandsia@gmail.com
GAUCHE
The awkward man scuffs his
feet over the elderly paved road.
He falls backwards when the
winds rub against his chest.
He slips forward when his
dancing feet lose their balance.
The mansion curtains fly toward
his body, causing him to fall
to the great room floor. When
he rides a scooter, the child’s
car leans from side to side,
his eventually scraping his
body after a hard fall. Other
children collect their witches
to shake his frame into bones.
Since the parents do not
correct their children, their
ancestors interview evil for
jobs. Evil hires all who show
an interest in her wares.
Those interested in goodness
fight for their lives, but lose,
as evil whips up horror that
pinches flesh.
VAGABOND
The drifter climbs trees in
woods and forests, ignoring
squirrels and snakes raking
the ground. Instead, his eyes
flow upward to study the
onslaught of storms and
tornadoes. As he flows like
ocean waves, he knows a
storm is near. He uses a rope
to tie himself securely to the
hearty pecan tree. When the
winds elevate, the pecan tree
is stable in character. Even
the sheets of rain provide a
comforter for the pecan tree.
As the tornado blasts forth
from the ocean, the man
clings to the pecan tree, the
tornado’s evil foot jumping
over the pecan tree, but
wrestling the rest of the
woods while they succumb
to flat lands.
INFERNO
The conflagration takes the town by
its tail, the fire whipping its
dinner of carnage, both human
and material.
As the fire plays hopscotch across the
town, the children carry their
attachments with them, Ivy’s
Smiley Pillow leaving the
world of fantasy.
The smoke from the blackened town
shakes up into tiny ghosts who
participate in a dance above
the burnt land.
As the reality of the situation sets like
Jello, the harbingers of freedom
give in to being prisoners of the
land.
The word Hope is sketched on the high
school’s front door, the only door
standing in the inferno.
As the townspeople gather around this
word, a crow covers it with a
burnt wing.