Category: Poetry

Collapsing 

We were so naive before the fall, having watched distant states dissolving from the safety of our

Shores. We sent thoughts, and prayers, and dollar bills, tsk tsking all the while. Nothing, though prepared us

For the shattering collapse, the heads rolling through the hallowed halls, their whispered names

On everybody’s lips. Perhaps those far flung states will reciprocate and send their thoughts, and prayers,

Coins of all the realms, as we resist the tide of tyranny with voices and with votes. Maybe it’s not too late.

No Snow White

No Snow White 
by Leslie Noyes

Underneath the good girl ruse, dark secrets lurked well hidden. Dimpled smiles hid her thoughts, as urges rose unbidden.

“Be yourself,” she was told, but herself was so lackluster, so instead she chose to be a tart, full of heat and bluster.

Reputations made or broken on a rash of indiscretions, too easy, too cold, or full of calculations.

Good girls go to heaven, she’d heard, but now no longer cared. They can keep their heaven, for she’d go everywhere.


The Writing on the Wall

King Belshazzar summoned Daniel when these words first appeared:

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upsharin, their meaning wasn’t clear.

Daniel knew when first he read the writing on the wall 

Trouble was a’coming and a kingdom sure to fall

He predicted a Babylon at war, their people overcome

Death and destruction raining down; the end of days for some. 

Where, oh where is Daniel now to interpret what’s been writ,

By greedy politicians, lacking compassion and/or grit?

A document that few have read, still fewer comprehend,

Has power over life and death; what suffering it portends!

No, we have no need for Daniel to show us what seems plain:

Rich white men aren’t worried about your suffering or your pain.

 
The phrase “the writing on the wall” refers to Chapter 5 of the Book of Daniel in the Bible when King Belshazzar sees a hand appear to write the words Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upsharin on a wall. Belshazzar summons Daniel to interpret the writing, which Daniel translates as “Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided.” Daniel tells Belshazzar that the writing means that Babylonian kingdom will be invaded and divided among the Medes and the Persians. The term “writing on the wall” has since been used to refer to any omen that predicts a bad outcome.

And When I Die

And When I Die
by Leslie Noyes

When I die I pray someone will mourn; that a song so achingly sweet will be offered up, and 

People will sob in response. I also want a celebration, though, a praise service with dancing in every aisle, 

Worshipful arms upstretched to the heavens. God only knows where I will turn up. I have not 

Lived a blameless life; how interminably boring that would be, But still, I think of the ecstasy of 

Being taken up by a heavenly host of angels, rising on wings of gossamer, when I die.

“Ascending Angels” by Steven Lavaggi

https://youtu.be/1BPoMIQHwpo

Dancing at the Mall

Dancing at the Mall
by Leslie Noyes

A song from my teens wafted down into the food court where I was engaged in a lackluster meal.

Putting a limp slice of pepperoni pizza aside, I rose from a red plastic bench and danced enthusiastically to

Twist and Shout, my Ferris Buehler moment, while lunch breaking students watched with open mouths,

Giggling and pointing at my intricate gyrations. I winked and smiled and reveled in the knowledge

That I’m alive and at sixty still capable of doing the audacious thing when the music hits me just right.

https://youtu.be/YXUjGftU7-k

Mark My Words

Take your big red pen and mark an x over the parts you find offensive. I guarantee you’ll cross out 

Obscenities right and left. But will you not obliviate the hunger of starving children? A curse word upsets

Your delicate sensibilities but the thought of a woman panhandling only causes disdain. Pull yourself up

By your bootstraps! you cry, without noticing she’s sold her boots to feed her children. You claim

To be pro-life, but in truth you are only pro-birth. Stop pretending you care when you voted for a heartless bastard.

As the Lightning Strikes

Lightning strikes and then
Nothing is ever the same
Start again from scratch


Wild bolts sear the sky
Blinding electricity
Frissons gone frantic


That hush afterwards
Silence rushing to fill space
Anticipation

Salad Days 

Cleopatra contemplated and thus reflected,
“My salad days, When I was green in judgment, cold in blood”

According to Shakespeare, her dalliances with the emperor were viewed as the flighty romance of her dewy youth,

Would the mighty queen have bothered with something so mundane as a salad? A woman who chose 

Death by asp would not have bothered with a paltry bowl of greens. Pomegranates and honey, beer and bread, 

Figs and nuts aplenty, but salads most likely weren’t on her menu. Unless, of course, it was a Caesar salad. 

Hold Steady

Will you yet be moved
By sleight of hand,
By hook or by crook,
Or consequences grand?

Will you yet be called
To arms,
To conscience,
Consequence, be damned?

Will you yet be taken
By surprise,
By force,
When violence commands?

Will you hold steady
Standing firm,
Taking stock,
As your conscience demands?

The Ballad of the Washing Machine

The Ballad of the Washing Machine
(with apologies to all poets)
By Leslie Noyes

A dark and stormy night, it was
(With a nod to good old Snoopy),
Thunder boomed and lightning struck,
All our appliances then went loopy.

The tv died, our elliptical fried,
Repairmen were soon called,
And all was made as good as new,
Except for the washer, there we stalled.

I made plans with GE service,
A technician soon would arrive,
But he fell ill, and couldn’t come,
For another week we’d strive.

Off I went to the laundromat,
Two baskets full of clothes,
There I was accosted in broad daylight,
By a man who didn’t know “no!”

The GE man was finally well,
When he arrived with a smiling face,
“All you need is this new part;
I’ll order with due haste.”

A week went by and he returned,
The part was here and ready.
“Oh dear,” he said, “This part’s not right!”
I felt less than steady.

So I returned to the laundromat,
With detergent and some mace,
But no one messed with me this time,
I had on my mean game face.

Seven more days I waited for news,
We finally got a part,
Back came the man from old GE,
“Oops, I hate to break your heart.

“Your machine is unrepairable,
It suffered a fatal blow,
So I can’t help you; sorry folks,
This washer has to go.”

I muttered a phrase beneath my breath
It rhymed with “duck, duck, duck,”
Then traipsed off to the laundromat
Hoping for better luck.

Now I must buy a new machine,
And it won’t match my dryer,
This model is no longer made
And the cost will be much higher.

This ends my tale, at least for now,
I’ve run out of patience and bucks
There’s nothing to say, but that old phrase,
That rhymes with “duck, duck, duck.”