KENNETH POBO
After Lunch
Soup again, cream of chicken,
and a couple of buttered rolls.
Stan is visiting his mom. I’m alone
with November, a good but
difficult friend. A sunny
morning, but by one o’clock
a tepid gray sky returns.
Barren trees can’t stop it
from enfolding me.
I could go out and clean up
the garden—death on leaf
and stem. Spring, another
friend who died. I try
to believe in resurrections,
hard to do with brown leaves
swirling around my legs. Some
bulbs need freezing days
to bloom in spring. So,
come freezing days, for the sake
of our hyacinths and tulips,
put your frozen hands
around them. Let them rest
in your creeping touch.
A Show-And-Tell Dahlia
The tuber has eyes
to see its way
into spring.
Only months ago,
reddish blossoms,
yellow tips,
like someone had
set the ends
on fire. The sun,
a struck match.
July: a strong stalk
more than waist high
to hoist heavy blossoms.
The phone camera
makes each flower
look small, decorative.
Not the lion pacing
out of a bud
with a silent roar.
Kenneth Pobo (he/him) has two new books out: At The Window, Silence (Fernwood Press) and It Gets Dark So Soon Now (Broken Tribe Press). “A Show-And-Tell Dahlia” was first published in Brittle Star.
It's not easy getting a book or pamphlet accepted for review these days. So in addition to the regular review section, the One Poem Review feature will allow more poets' to reach a wider audience - one poem featured from a new book/pamphlet along with a cover JPG and a link to the publisher's website. Contact the editor if you have released a book/pamphlet in the last twelve months or expect to have one published. Details here
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