Jeremy Rich

Knothole

A boy sits
On his haunches,

Dirt-stained fingerprints
Stripe his shirt,

His Cheek against
A wooden fence,

His eye peeking through
A knothole kaleidoscope.

Ignorance kisses his forehead.
Its lips like mandarin halves
Fresh from flower.

His teeth crooked with childhood,
Automatic smiles
Looking up to tiptoe doorknobs.

His blinking pauses the world.
Darkness
His only fear.



Fireworks and Lilies

She says
She wants
Fireworks and Lilies
At her funeral.

Fireworks
Fleeting flashes falling
Earthbound
Pseudo star-shine
Fading to dim darkness
Exquisite explosion of light and sound
Creeping vines of lustrous luminance
Beauty in brevity
Blazing flashes shooting holes in the heavens
Shaking the ground
Splashing the sky.

Lilies
Soft pale skin
Redolent picture of frailty
Fresh paper with one golden sentence.
Swan’s feather,
Cupped hand holding hope
Crisp, soft line like the curve of a woman’s bare back
Folded baby’s blanket,
Smell of lingering spring
Early sun warmed dew-tears
Wedding dress shrugged to the floor.

Both leaving marks only in memory.

Ephemeral ticks in time.

They don’t mix well with
Tear muddied soil and
The permanence of chiseled marble.

Hopefully,
I will have flashed and wilted before that day.


Jeremy Rich has published several poems in collections like Watershed, Take Back The Night, Chantarelle’s Notebook, Ceremony, and Speedpoets. He is currently an 8th grade Language Arts teacher in Colorado, but was a long time chef in California.

 Current Issue:
October 2007

Melinda Blount
Frank DeCanio
Bobbi Dykema
Taylor Graham
John Grey
Don Kloss
Alicia Matheny
Pam Pignataro
Jeremy Rich
Bill Roberts
Bethany Rountree
Tom Sheehan
Kelsey Upward

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