Celebrating National Poetry Month

Thanks to Barry Marks for allowing me to post this amazing poem. One of my favorites.

I Stop to Ponder the Stentorian Colors of the Day

by Barry Marks

The railing down from the deck

to the garbage cans was wobbly and

since you left I’ve certainly had

time on my hands,

so I unretired my rusty box saw,

found an old two-by-four

and some three penny nails,

and got to work.

A dog was barking, yelling his name

at the dog next door

Big Dog Who Swims! Big Dog Who Swims!

To which his neighbor barked back,

Dog Who Hates Cats! and

some nearby mutt yapped

Mama’s Favorite! Mama’s Favorite!

A cardinal was shouting

Beauty! A mockingbird said

the same, of course.

A chameleon shot out of the hedge,

stopped by my foot, and turning from green

to almost-brown, sneered

You can’t see me then skittered off.

The sky was whispering until

I looked up and it screamed,

Forever

to which the grass responded,

Joy is fragile!

And the saw

sang in my hands

and the wood?

Come on, now. An old two-by-four

with a bent nail in its heart?

Everyone knows dead wood

has nothing to say.