You can tell it's Spring by the few
green hairs that stubble a crotch
between asphalt and sidewalk,
subsisting on the meager dust
packed in over the years.I raise
a glass to their tenacity, want to
erect a steel cage for protection
from careless feet, cigarette butts.
In Ukraine it's raining missles and
flechette darts. Farmers turn the soil,
tow Russian tanks with tractors.
They say a child walked six hundred
miles to the Polish border, clutching
a stuffed animal, crying all the way,
without so much as a proper cabbage.
Z
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- Posts: 2691
- Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03
Re: Z
I almost winced when I saw another poem with a plant emerging in a sidewalk's crack. But then you made the image fresh. It's fine. No crits. It's true that the child tugs at our sympathies. Yet the poem doesn't have the impact I wanted. I suspect others will find it works well.
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- Posts: 1619
- Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17
Re: Z
Thanks for a careful read and thoughtful comment.
There have been a million poems about Ukraine.
I enjoyed writing it.
There have been a million poems about Ukraine.
I enjoyed writing it.
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- Posts: 2154
- Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57
Re: Z
Hi Kenneth,
I like the way the poem turns topical and treats the theme: tenacity.
Michael (MV)
I like the way the poem turns topical and treats the theme: tenacity.
Michael (MV)
Kenneth2816 wrote: ↑28 Apr 2022, 15:03You can tell it's Spring by the few
green hairs that stubble a crotch
between asphalt and sidewalk,
subsisting on the meager dust
packed in over the years.I raise
a glass to their tenacity, want to
erect a steel cage for protection
from careless feet, cigarette butts.
In Ukraine it's raining missles and
flechette darts. Farmers turn the soil,
tow Russian tanks with tractors.
They say a child walked six hundred
miles to the Polish border, clutching
a stuffed animal, crying all the way,
without so much as a proper cabbage.
-
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 03 Aug 2018, 01:06
Re: Z
I like how the poem turns as well. Moving from life struggling to be in a sidewalk crack to life struggling to be in war is effective.