Lost and Found Words

Expressions Found

Now and then,
expressions found
evolving in masquerade.
Let no one in.
Last notice.
A few gypsies’
unsettling skirts...

anything silent

anything silent

anything silent,

but at that moment,

when you see toward imaginations,

absentminded and illformed,

thus studying escape,

guilty of daydreams.

October

OCTOBER

by Bonnie Phillips Gardiner

There is wet bark on the trees along the road to the house;

The fire is burning in the fireplace.

I slowly walk the wet horse at my side;

My shotgun is under my arm, and the dead beast is strapped to my horse:

The animal's blood drips on molded leaves.

Ode To Mustard

Ode to Mustard

(A modified Shakespearian sonnet)

by Bonnie Phillips Gardiner

If I should write the beauty of mustard,

And on bread spread all its grace,

The age to come would say, "On this sandwich is found

Such heavenly yellow spice as ne'er spoils sliced turkey or ham."

So should my jar empty with age,

Be scorned, like old moldy bread under

The package of dinner rolls in the bread box,

And should mayonnaise replace the hearty flavor,

'Twould arise my poet's rage,

So scrape the last out of the jar,

And get some more, I pray.

Max Lines Up

Max Lines Up

by Bonnie Phillips Gardiner

(From the possible point of view of our autistic son, Maxwell.)

Red car, white car, yellow car,

yellow block, yellow Lego, yellow ball

big bear book, big phone book, sci-fi book

from Daddy's stack in the hall,

a shoe, a hairbrush, a scratched CD

another book that's not for me,

a video tape, the TV remote, an AOL free offer

Sister's homework, Brother's notebook, My backpack,

Lunch money knocked on the floor

a comic book, an envelope, a magazine

a bill that Mom can't find anymore,

the big one handled pot, the small two handled one,

the plastic juice pitcher and a row of silver spoons

are all lined up with the Ziplocks box and the trash bags box

and the spaghetti sauce and the open pasta wrapper

and the juice jug and the spatula,

and the dishwashing soap and an empty bottle of cola

sitting next to the aluminum foil on its roll,

out of its own box which is also on the floor,

next to another

red car, white car, yellow car,

yellow block, yellow Lego, yellow ball . . .