LISA RHOADES

SAINT JULIAN PRESS POET

WORDS AT HAND

 
I want to write something exquisite 
and tender, but those are not the words at hand. The words 
at hand are mismatched socks, lint, and dog hair, 
homework, and the flu.
 
I want the pigeons
out of my yard. They bully the smaller birds--
the male cardinals hopping along behind their mates to feed them.
I want the bellies of the females filled.
 
I don’t want the words MOAB, refugee, and rape,
unemployment or cancer to grow sticky 
in the lives they invade. 
 
I don’t want to be petty about my desires,
or worry about money in the presence of my wealth.
I want big things, too, and not just for me:
shelter and prayer, friends 
 
meeting in the street with a hug, 
the ornamental plums in bloom a little longer, 
so everyone has time to see them
before their blousy fall. 

 First Published in Sweet: A Literary Confection: “Words at Hand.”
 
THE LONG GRASS
Lisa Rhoades © 2019
 

PRESS RELEASE
 
POEMS
IN THE BRIGHT WORLD DEMETER WISHES
THE LONG GRASS​

POET’S PAGE

Available Through ~  Ingram Content Group  ~  Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble  ~  IndieBound ~  Fine Book Distributors & Retailers
 Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008  *  Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
 Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com