Sample Poems: Volume 15

Chain-Gang Sonnet
by V. Penelope Pelizzon

Tell the wind to quit
Banging them clouds around. No need
For that big guy to bully,
Clouds easy to shift. Tell him
Shut up & try doing some real work,
Try hauling this mountain away
Shovel by shovel, try laying some track.

Sleep cut all night by dynamite,
Guts ripped on this shit they feed you,
Not so bad as that wind
Teasing, a voice like your woman
Whispering from the rock,

Like she was naked in the river again, Lord,
& you washing cool mud from your feet.

 

 

Boys and the Wars They Train For
By Walter McDonald

Any full moon you'd find us
stalking through cactus, Earl and me
and Big Joe Bubba. We sipped cold beer
and listened for owls, Saigon a war in the news
we confused with movies. We shot to hear the whine
across a mile of pasture. Flashlights
nailed more rabbits than our guns: their round eyes
gave them away, their hearts we could almost hear.
We lied about the ones we missed,
swore they crawled off in darkness to die.
Tossing the cans, we watched the stars,
hoping we'd never be afraid, but flinched
each time Earl's .30-.30 exploded.