Tag Archives: sonnet

2025, Days, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, river life, sonnet

Days 2025: Spring Equinox

we must trust in the knowing of daffodils
and in the songs of returning birds perched
in trees along the wharf, singing regardless
of the grumblings of tired old men, regardless
of urban noise and the rumbling interstate traffic

we must trust in the slightest hint of non-arctic air
underneath the chill, the half-scent of spring in the rain
the need to remind ourselves
the sump pit needs draining and the dogs
tracking in mud from the back fence

where they go to bark at the neighbor’s adult son
hiding and playing with axes, imagining
that the end of the world
will be his time to shine like an equinox sun.

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2024, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, river life, sonnet, waterfront, work

all schematics are no match for eternal enigmatic devices

rain hammers against concrete and wood
distant leaves hang on until the wind wins
the seasonal tug-of-war
let the Mary Miller’s  lines go
catch them again
walk the Belle decks
whisper to the boiler and pumps
sharing our stories of the past season
the cityscape looms starboard
its light erasing the stars
the wharf grows into an endless plain

and out the portside
the river stretches wide arms
to everywhere

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2024, poetry, sonnet, summer

King Street Parade, Charleston


The evening air a sponge soaked
in Magnolia sweat. There’s no escape
from southern belles in denial.
No no reprieve no baptisms in the rain
but still we look for meaning carved
in antebellum inspired architecture.

Nothing here dies except old men
and debutant dreams.
Let us wander these secret gardens
hand in hand unhurried
by the empire-waisted dresses
listing away from the rising moon
under the arms of living oaks
holding up grief-laden clouds.

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