Loose Leaf Notes

Turntable moon A long playing disc Climbs all the charts and spins all the hits __________Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United

The poem is an anchor dropped down in the water that must be pulled up or cut from the body to meet its potential while I inconspicuously follow I close my eyes to see _______Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United

There’s nothing new under the sun But the moon is an unread mystery novel A magical trick of mythological logic that has no alibi The sun is the day’s bloom But the moon is the night’s deep root The inside out insight Invitation to reflection A veiled visitor to follow The sun is the usual […]

I measure out darkness like a potion I know will kill me when my body is a riddle tied in knots a host for virus and plastic because the world is not a promise the moon is not a puppet and the sun doesn’t owe us light What wakes me at night is the thought […]

The kleenex box got passed around the classroom a few times at the Radford University Death and Bereavement class where Katherine Chantal and I were recently guests, sharing our Grief and Relief, Soulful Aging Poetry to counseling students. Professor Alan Forrest was our host, and it wasn’t the first time I had been a featured […]

I never indulge in rhyme or stanza unless I’m in bed with the influenza. -Quintus Ennius Four flat tires and the lights went out The body simmered and stewed but was still cold There was no easy breathing or ‘life is but a dream’ A squirrel in the tree outside my window showed me all […]

My mind is a blizzard in a snow globe The drifts pile up Sometimes they lean to one side The leaks are inevitable when they melt I bump into door frames and hold on to walls I avoid unplanned moves Crash but don’t fall It probably started when I fainted and hit my head on […]

Upside-down parasol of pink A sleeping eyelid waiting to blink From bashful to bold it flutters open and closed and sometimes it turns the other cheek ____________Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United

When our eyes become adjusted to darkness we call ourselves poets The ones who stand too close to the speakers listening for the hum of the world’s forgotten song We wait for falling stars to burn in our laps for dread to pass and time to stop We wear berets and quit our jobs fix […]

From a promising first impression to a string of false starts It’s always a blind date when sleep plays hard to get When my mind is a bell I hold the clapper and match my breath with the chant of mantra While my thoughts wear a path and count down to the future They loom […]

Waiting to be snatched to be left in the woods with no path back Waiting to forget names and faces to lose your place and everything you trusted How will it end? Asleep in your bed? Will it come all at once when you least expect it? Will we all be picked off one by […]

The wasp leaves an unexpected sting It strikes for no visible reason and then flies away There is no justice as you go through the stages of suffering and the slow arrival of relief You learn to avoid it and come to expect it The swelling disappears But the memory holds on You don’t think […]