CANADA FIGHTS BACK
COURAGE TRUMP THOUGHT WE DID LACK
OUR TARIFF ATTACK
With its disparate arms it beckons.
Look at its face, its eyes half-passed closed,
With a mouth smiling counter-clockwise,
It ticks to me and it tocks to me.
But I still cannot understand how,
Legless, time runs out on me so fast.
(Honorary Mention in Brian Strands's No 1491 Contest)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The fluorescent hum doesn’t bother her.
Neither does the line winding past aisle three,
the man who taps his foot like a metronome, nor
the mother bouncing a fussy child.
Her hands move gracefully~
meticulously counting pills into amber vials,
smoothing wrinkled labels,
turning each bottle just so
so the instructions face outward.
She knows Mrs. Putzer forgets her reading glasses.
She remembers Mr. Kim’s allergy to penicillin
even though he hasn’t mentioned it in years.
When the young man with trembling hands
asks, again, about his dosage,
she doesn’t glance at the clock.
She unfolds the leaflet slowly,
points to the bolded text,
says take your time
like she’s handing him a cup of water
after a long walk.
Some days, the world is a rumpled prescription,
filled with smudged ink,
but Mary is the angel in blue scrubs
behind the prescription counter
*You may this poem’s companion story here on Poetry Soup as follows:
poetrysoup.com/short_stories/an_angel_in_blue_scrubs_13589
It's Your Expectations
That Dissappoint You,
Not What Things
Really Are.
You Can Absolutely
Love Everything If
You Just Control
Your Mind.
-Gray Squirrel
10-16-2025
There's Really Something
To Be Said!
That I Need To Be
Heard!
Inside This Stupid
Squirrel's Head
Pretending I'm A
Bird.
-Gray Squirrel
06-29-2025
Nuttall's Woodpeckers' Useful Addition
There Were
Two Of Them
On The Tree.
I Tried To
Catch Them!
Thru' The Window!
But:
You Know
How Flighty
Birds Can
BE.
***
Click! Click! Click!
Useless.
A petition has intiaton.' On border soverigenity.' Midst angst
And supposition ? In one dimention flow of people..Has
Been a staple, before Noah sailed over the silenced; and hidden
Creations.' Yet subject to conditions i e ( travellers funding
Available craft? the (prevailing tides and seasons ) allowing
Integration, of benefit to any nation.' Any artifice; or abberation
Type's Cannot justify, it is my inclination.' Only in the 1700s
Enslaved peoples in ( massed movement ) mirror of the
Current.' And did such not cause misery.? The 1970's
Was a purging, a cathartic stage' of (that un-normal) un-needed instancy.) driven by such materialistic social engineering originally.!
In a certainty of lunacy.' So in Britian late 2024 a petion is
Now set forth.' To seal all borders for a full five years course.' In normal
Times such would be ludicrous.' Yet in consideration of what we see' with
All the currant human misery..' It now appears most judicious and not at all Im-prudent; to use.' as i can see.)
It is ridiculous to think that being peaceful implies weakness.
If you want your peace, you must be willing to fight for it.
As in protests.
If you want to lead a war, you must be a pacifist.
As in manipulation.
Counter-Intuitive
If
You
Don't Try At All:
You
Will Never Be
Disssssappointed.
-Gray Squirrel
12-02-2024
It was a whole other world
No cellphones or tablets
No text messages
People gathered and talked
The most popular places no longer exist
Every afternoon and all weekends
The place to be was the lunch counter
Woolworth’s always had the best
Every store in every mall and street
Great food that never emptied your pocket
And a staff that would make your day happy
No matter what mood you were in
It is so sad that Woolworth’s had to die
Sadder yet, the lunch counters went with them
But we do have memories and pictures
That way, they will always be alive
© Poem – XXVIII/X/MMXXIV
LRET
noisy luncheonette
1950’s fast food
men in suits and ties
women in cotton dresses
wearing high heeled shoes
none unchaperoned
counter closed on Sundays
family day
everyone in church
I miss our sex.
So fast
crazy
energetic
lazy
we'd do it
in the
bed, sure.
but also
on the desk
the couch
the dryer
in motion
with paddles
scarves
and all
kinds of
lotions.
But now
you're gone
and I know
you gotta
miss it.
Just
come back
and tell
Mama
where you
want me
to kiss it.
I mean
really
are we
done??
Not even
one last lick
let's throw
ourselves
up against
the counter
and see if
we stick. :p
©SamHarty
Spinning
counter clockwise,
it’s getting dark early;
Make sure that you play in the Sun
daily.
Causality before truth
truth before causation
Universal in transference
inextricably defined
An atom of veracity
a little bit pregnant
Plato through Lewis
—reality entwined
(Rosemont College: October, 2022)
Screw the rules of engagement.
Focus on target acquisition.
Fix range and bearing.
Estimate windage.
Calculate time on target.
Battery away.
Commence fire.
Volley after volley.
Shot after shot.
Insult after insult.
Snide remark follows snarky jab.
Brutal comeback lands with a jolt.
Gas-lit accusations trip the NBC alarm.
F-bombs. C-words. Total devastation.
Just a typical conversation
Over no man’s land in the family room.
In a time of love and war,
All casualties are blue on blue.
Science is not only facts and logics
It has a different perspective
It tells us the law of the universe
To counter and control natural disaster
It invents
To make life easier
It sprinkles help
To reach the corners of the earth
But not to make wealth
Not to destroy
Not to conquer
Science must go with a little sympathy and love
To help those in need
To give us hope materialistically and spiritually
No violations
Science is only for the benefits of mankind
An undebatable fact and logic
A strong testimony of sympathy and love
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