by Jeph Ko

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Can I forget

Can I forget the days that sun lit up fields in summer hum of bees in hedgerows

when the soft sweet smell of dung and hay-damp hung in the air

like a thread through the needle’s eye connecting hope and yearnings

the commitment to be there for you

when the rains and the frosts cracked windowpanes

to take your hand and footstep through the bridle-pathed wood

where the blue bells clothed soft secret dells where we made love in the swaling warmth

and trailed home like Jersey cows at milking time with grass seeds in our trousers

when the evening light lingered at story time for the young ones snuggled with snuggles-bear

and they fell smiling into sleep before the last page was turned

with the seeds of wonder already lodged in their dreams

the days when you brought me meals when I worked late while stars fell from the sky

and friends said in their unknowingness you were wrong

but you smiled and said it’s OK to be good

it’s OK to be good and never doubt you know the way through

even when you doubt

you never forget or regret you dared to tread the path where fiends stealthied in dark burrows

gnawing ankles in their distemper

and you swatted them with smiles that gentled the furrows of their frown

leaned down and picked them as posies to plant love in the vase on the table

when the days were hardest and love balled in my stoned fist

and exhaustion stole the sunshine from my smile and the worm stirred in his slumber

by Stephanie Russell

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TRAGIC TIMES: final verse

Now it’s easy to see how our rising generation,

Has a strategic handicap in knowledge veneration

Times reduced in class for the good three-r’s to hold their place.

And young don’t know what history tells. A shameful disgrace.

AUTUMN AT BUCKLEBOO: final verse

We must acknowledge nature’s grandeur, ensure her timeless reign;

“Ever let the Fancy Roam,” wrote Keats, make time for mental gain.

We’ve thrived from nature’s riches, let’s deftly enjoy and prolong–

And with children, acclaim our planet’s beauty, in history and song.

by Ken Schaeffr