Eucalyptus Soliloquy— Martin Agee
The pavements of my youth
were never paved at all, really—
gravel, loose along the edges,
a dialogue
between distant Eucalyptus groves
and self-built landscapes of borrowed trees,
orphaned leaves and fallen limbs
along the side of the road.
Half a world away
the termites went about their work
hollowing logs
as I trembled near a steep embankment.
Barbed wire fences, invisible at dusk—
kept cattle off the road
but threatened the tender flesh
of inner arms,
easily scarred
like the boy I wish I knew
who turned and walked away
with a bottle of rose wine in one hand
and a violin in the other.
Standing atop a mountain pass,
the droning didgeridoo is barely audible
and the wait is long
for a hummingbird
that slipped off the side of the road
just beyond the bend
and tumbled into the valley.
Martin Agee’s career as a violinist has brought him to the major performance venues of New York City for over thirty-five years. A writer of poetry and fiction, his works have been published in Belle Ombre, Jerry Jazz Musician, and The Daily Drunk, among many others.
Birches— Marianne Tefft
We planted those birches outside the gate the week you were born
They were beautiful in summer as we sat on the deck
Waiting for the Vidalias to caramelize on the grill
We watched you climb atop your playhouse
To leap from its pink roof into the silver shade of dusk
They were beautiful in autumn as you stood on the deck
Of the neighborhood Olympic pool lips blue
Mummy-wrapped in towels
Waving goodbye to summer vacation
And they were beautiful in winter
As our breath billowed against the French doors to the backyard
You tapped your little fists along the hoary glass
To make dimpled footprints on the panes
Those souvenirs are long gone and your father too
But the birches are still beautiful in spring
With their hopeful rosaries of green
Outside the gate of the house where you were born.
Marianne Tefft is a poet and voiceover reader who daylights as a Montessori teacher on the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Maarten. Her poems appear online and in print in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Serbia, India and Sint Maarten. She is the author to the poetry collections Full Moon Fire: Spoken Songs of Love and Moonchild: Poems for Moon Lovers.
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