Poetry

Days of the Week

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 .