Poetry

In Memory of New Orleans
by Marilyn Peake

ÓCopyright 2005 Marilyn Peake

Mahogany skin, burnished, comforting mother’s arms
Mardi gras beads, creole dish, bare chested girls
Tossed together in a fog of unfeeling drowned alarms
Black night sky, raging soup bowl water.  Ocean pounds, swirls.

Money for a tank of gas?  Sweet, black, liquid saviour.
Blank stare, cold shoulder.  Back into the boiling soup
Babies, grandparents wrinkled with time, stooped, falling over
Stirred by guns, dogs, lost communication loop.

Toxic soup bled out across the land, our wake-up call
Large, shiny, monstrous vans rushing to and fro
Noses to the grindstone, deafened, large and small
Hush. Quiet.  Listen to the broken hearts of those who know.

The following poem is about one day, or the chapters in one’s life...

Day and Night
by Marilyn Peake

ÓCopyright 2005 Marilyn Peake

Morning and the crisp white sail unfurls
Spread out like angel wings upon the primrose mist
Sun splashes of color, cloud wisp curls
Boat from the dock slip-slides silently, dazed, dew-kissed.

Heat in the air, invisible, cool
Wind rustling hair, waves slapping hard, stop, drop anchor
Inner tubes, life jackets, silent pool
Swimming, splashing, entrance to eternity’s door.

The rescued anchor, foam, wet waves wild
Get out the slick skis, jump down, fight, cling to the bar
Perfect legs, windblown hair, untamed child
Disciplined, commanding, dreams thrown upon a star.

Boat docked safely, tethered ‘round the post
Cook dinner, wash dishes, clean up, watch the brood play
Sun dropping toward the painted coast
The quiet time, the starlit firefly time end of day.

Light falls vaguely through my window shade
Large swatches of dark, interrupted by sunlight
It is done, end, not to be replayed
Oh, to the white sail unfurled, primrose mist, hold tight.

Global Warming: Denial
by Marilyn Peake

ÓCopyright 2005 All rights reserved

The smooth, slick, oily grasp
The thick, viscid, consuming reach
Glimmer of the last gasp
Star imploding, drowned sparkling beach.

Primordial knowing
Suppressed fear.  Finger on the lips.
Hush!  Blind vision glowing.
Money, land, bright power eclipse.

Burn the midnight oil.  Run!
Nothing matters.  Toss the compass.
Dance, kick, it’s all been spun.
Black liquid, usher in the waves, it’s done.

Alien Attack
by Marilyn Peake

Copyright 2005 All rights reserved

In the deep, warm, crushing black of night
Eyes closed, blind:
Earth without sight
Celestial spawn crack the fiery diamond
Of starlight glyph.

Ships puncture the silent sky
Our earthly prison to divide
Set us free, blackbirds in a pie
Four and twenty taking flight
Hush. Too late. The stars burn human dreams.

Copyright (c) 2008 Marilyn Peake