IF WE BUT SHADOWS WERE
—Joseph Nolan, Stockton, CA
If we but shadows were
What might we destroy?
What powers of darkness
May shadows employ?
History’s replete
With dark power of deceit.
Darker still
The evil will
That skillfully
Employs it.
If we but shadows were
Could we destroy the light
Or merely block it?
A solar eclipse
Turns night
From bright-lit day,
And shocks the world.
That bright/dark
Dallas day we can’t forget
A wicked shadow, long,
Stunned to silent horror,
Showed shadow to be strong!
Every war
Employs deceit to start it
To further its most deadly aims,
Slaughtering the innocent.
Never will shadow be erased
From our tiny planet
Or from space.
Dark matter is the greater
Weight of mass
Throughout the universe.
______________________
Our thanks to Joseph Nolan for today's fine offering at the Kitchen table, as we near the day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination (Nov. 22).
Lots to do today in NorCal poetry, starting this morning at 11am with Coffee & Poets #39 at the Brickhouse Gallery in Sacramento, as Bob Stanley interviews Sacramento Poet Mary Zeppa. Then, at 1pm at Love Birds Coffee & Tea on Broadway in Placerville, there will be a release of Phil Weidman’s new book, Rungs of the Ladder (plus open mic), from Cold River Press. And tonight at 6:30pm, Sac. Poetry Center will present a Special Evening with Dennis Schmitz. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.
Do note, though, that the 2pm Davis Arts Center Poetry Series reading from Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California has been cancelled due to the smoky air. Irony, anyone?
—Medusa