FIVE 17-SYLLABLED NOT-AT-ALL-HUMAN POEMS

FIVE 17-SYLLABLED

NOT-AT-ALL-HUMAN POEMS

1

Your face distorted in anger

proves there is life

on other planets.        

2

When, with heavy hand,

you hurt a child,

pet dogs and cats

are saddened.

3

To speak of love

without sincerity

disaffirms being human.

4

More than in night dreams,

life’s terrors challenge us

to act more than human.

5

We must assume blame

for similes linking us

to the inhuman.

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LOVE CAN TRY AGAIN

LOVE CAN TRY AGAIN

A look, a kind word, a nervous smile

can fill the vacant heart emptied of love

gone bad. It can salvage from the offal heap

that offbeat pulsing grayness, the dazzling shine

a barrage of trenchant remarks snuffed out.

The heart can bravely try again. It can allow

new life to permeate a sagging hollowness.

Love can lift one’s head from abashment to

beaming pride. It can grace the lonely

and read into hope a bright awakening.

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