The Vines of East Rockville
by Marianne Szlyk
According to Celtic astrology, the vine is
changeable,
indecisive, fickle,
born in the transition to fall
as the air loses its heat
and sunlight disappears
into the dark crimson
and purple of early evenings.
Many vines grow
in my neighborhood
some with flowers,
some with leaves like hearts,
others with tiny needles,
most on chain link fences.
Even the house with scented roses,
a teacup terrier, and peonies
has its vines.
The family next door plants
vines with purple flowers
and thick-skinned peapods.
These fuse with the fence,
green and silver links together.
Once an Italian family raised grapes,
green leaves and purple fruit twining around
the arbor where an old man now sits.
Up the street a profusion
of leaves tangle with the links.
Purple flowers and red berries
and yellow leaves
show up among the green.
Young trees, too young
to bend the fence,
spring up like vines,
for now, protecting
the abandoned
house until it falls.
Bio: Every so often Marianne Szlyk thinks about going on a walking tour in England, but for now she is happy to explore East Rockville and parts of Washington, DC. Her poems have appeared in Kind of a Hurricane's print anthologies beginning with Of Sun and Sand as well as in online venues such as The Blue Hour Literary Magazine, Poetry Pacific, and, soon, Pyrokinection. She keeps a poetry blog at http://thesongis.blogspot.com/ and hopes that you will consider submitting a poem or two to her "contest": http://thesongis.blogspot.com/2014/08/between-summer-and-fall.html
THE RAVEN
by Marc Carver
I see a raven
his foot stuck in cement
he opens up those arms and pulls to the sky
but goes nowhere.
He looks down
starts to peck at the ground
his head moves from side to side
watching
again he tries to leave his last resting place
two choices remain
either he becomes a meal on a stick
a grounded plate
or a piece of him remains there
a tribute to the power
of what the earth can do to you.
Bio:Marc Carver, a British poet, was recently an internationally featured
poet at the Austin International Poetry Festival. He has published
four books of poetry and has had some seventy or so poems published
and posted at various sites. All of his books are available on
Amazon.com. He is now writing a book of fiction and hopes to publish
it very shortly. He performs mainly in London and will continue to
write poetry as long as people enjoy his work.
