Supplicant, by Alan Toltzis

Supplicant
                for Claudia
by Alan Toltzis

Caressing your cello
(not child, not lover),
you draw the bow across wound
metal strings, coaxing air into sound.
Its resonance resonates within you,
the core of you reverberating.

Within me,
your supple grace
notes and trills
rejoice
like prayers and supplications
granted but never fully deserved.

Process Notes: I write a poem every year for our wedding anniversary. This one was written last year, for our 38th.

Alan Toltzis is the author of 49 Aspects of Human Emotion and The Last Commandment. A two-time Pushcart nominee, he has published in numerous print and online journals. Alan serves as an Editor for the Mizmor Poetry Anthology. Find him online at alantoltzis.com and follow him @ToltzisAlan.

In Honor Of The Magpie, by Christopher Hileman

In Honour Of The Magpie
by Christopher Hileman

This pain has savor,
a dark bittersweet flavor
like fine chocolate.

I wish you were here.

I have been splurging lately
and I’ve also worked
my light boned fingers,
honing my picking skill set:
no pocket is safe.

I need your taming
as only you know how to
reach as deep as souls.

Well, I might fib some,
Exaggerate my sad case
just a little bit…

but I do miss you.

Christopher Hileman moved to Oregon in 1973. He has retired for some years and lives on the north bank of the McKenzie River in Vida, Oregon. He moved recently from his basement digs in Oregon City, emerging into the riverine sunshine on the eastbound highway out of the Eugene/Springfield area of Oregon.

Love Poem, by Alan Toltzis

Love Poem
by Alan Toltzis

The temperature went to 75
in February.
Everyone played like it was June,
even our trees.

Their buds bulged
with unformed leaves
and unformed fruit.

Lovers ignored the warnings:
thunderstorms to mark the start
of the warm spell,
thunderstorms to take it all away.

The trees noticed
but continued to burst anyway,
their juices surging.

Process Notes: I wrote this after seeing the movie Paterson, which is full of poems by Ron Padgett. Hearing and reading poetry relaxed the tone of my work, at least for a while.

Alan Toltzis is the author of 49 Aspects of Human Emotion and The Last Commandment. A two-time Pushcart nominee, he has published in numerous print and online journals. Alan serves as an Editor for the Mizmor Poetry Anthology. Find him online at alantoltzis.com and follow him @ToltzisAlan.

I Will Give You Salt, by Christopher Hileman

I Will Give You Salt
by Christopher Hileman

Stings of betrayal,
the pepper on our anguish:
this is how we bond.

This is bittersweet.

We dare the overt
ache of reunion because
we have to or die.

Oh my beauty, my true love,

I shall be the fire
red of blood, the honey cut
on your tongue.

I will give you salt.

Christopher Hileman moved to Oregon in 1973. He has retired for some years and lives on the north bank of the McKenzie River in Vida, Oregon. He moved recently from his basement digs in Oregon City, emerging into the riverine sunshine on the eastbound highway out of the Eugene/Springfield area of Oregon.