Poetry

Monday we’re all virgins
acting our experienced selves.
Coffee is a tether to reality.
Tuesday the tether is tighter.
Wednesday is a tease,
a balance and a promise.
Thursday is a tune up,
Friday a refill.
Saturday is a sweet to the soul,
a dripping ice cream cone.
Sunday is a walk with no plan
but to move and see
where birds sing louder
in greener trees.

If dreams were trees

and trees were our enemies
we would be indoor people.
We would be hugging ourselves
trying not to mention
limbs or trunks
or anything
reminding us of trees.
When leaves fell in our hair
it would feel like
a little taunt.
The wind rustling dry leaves
would remind us
tree parts are dangerous
and on the loose.
Burning wood
would be more
than warmth and romance.
It would feel like victory
over the enemy.
We would sing, chant
and dance in celebration
and try to remember
to take our anti-psychotics.

Tribute

Three days with a living corpse,
through seizures and strokes,
morphine and ativan,
cessation of breath
and coming back,
through living hours
after her body was cold,
then when her dearest love
leaves her side
she sneaks away
to where she needs to go.

What is left:
the knowledge and love
she gave
all her life,
her merriment and depth.
When the sadness fades
and she lives happily
in hearts again
we will be glad,
that if she had to go,
she chose Spring,
in the flourishing green,
the ground sprinkled
with flowers
and manure.
We will remember
something
she might have said
about the yin yang
stinking beauty of life
and we will smile.

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Belinda Subraman's website is www.belindasubraman.com. She edits www.gypsymag.com featuring art, reviews, interviews, flash fiction, news in the literary arts and independent music scene and poetry. Her own poetry is appearing in print journals, online magazines and podcasts around the world.

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Newspaper Tree is pleased to consider submissions of poetry for publication in upcoming issues. Please submit up to five poems of no more than two pages, along with a biographical note of no more than 30 words, to Donna Snyder, Poetry Curator, c/o publisher@newspapertree.com .