Anna Sears and Christopher Nevin Johnston
Anna Sears is an adult who “has been writing poems since the new century began.”
Fleet Week
by Anna Sears
Beneath hellfire angels
burning sky with hot hot
blue zippo flames
myriad pigeon flusters
seagull riots
hawks swerve above
Artillery fire on the left flank
160 meters out on the left!
Shouts the homeless veteran
running for cover.
Again
Refuse
by Christopher Nevin Johnston
Dirty Yellow Plastic Bag
Mangled Cardboard Box
Roll through Chinatown like
Tumbleweeds of the City,
Searching for a home,
Aching for a purpose.
And, we’re all tumbleweeds but
Bag knows she is lost.
Box once was stocked,
Now crushed and reeks of
Urban jungle rot
Got a dollar?
Spare a dime?
No one stops to brush their grime
Or invent some new use.
So the destitute couple
Turn onto Broadway,
Hands outstretched, begging.
Too tired to continue
Too humble to argue,
Bag sees her only chance at utility,
Deserts her only mate and
Lives out the short life of a
Dog poop scoop.
Angry with envy,
Box rolls solo down trails of
Cheap booze and sidewalk smut.
Dehydrated and malnourished.
Out of work and past his prime,
But, soiled, rank and broken
Box abandons his fruitless search
To retire in an alley graveyard.
Nodding a somber farewell to
Candy wrapper,
Paper cup and
One-use Diaper.
He dies the quiet,
Unseen death of
All street Tumbleweed.
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