There are days I do not write a single poem quietly measuring my worth in affidavits I have carefully drafted the words to wound or give relief. The seriousness of being a lawyer Is not to be taken with a pinch of salt We march…

Dying Dreams after Tomorrow’s Born Today by Gerry E. Heber   A decade and a half ago Young me turned sweet 16 To celebrate this joyous time My mom bought me a ring   It was hideous and gaudy Covered side to side in stone…

I’m the glob being warmed hour 13 is a bad time for a bad freezer that’s stopped making ice

Many voices speaking Only some worth hearing Peanut gallery and gaggle As lil gems roll Across the table Scent of paint and snacks Sound of monster attacks Crinkle wrappers “Oh snaps!” Gold and chocolate trading hands And dwarven rhymes exchanged A Scottish orc and party…

3pm. Poem 13. Funny, Silly, Workadays (a 3 stanza tanka plus 7 syllable line) Everyday at work someone throws up, pees, or poops and it’s usually on me. Then, they smile their tiny smiles while I clean it all away Everyday at work someone hits,…

The guts have the same color as pink taffy and they look like it when it’s pulled between rollers at those places where you can watch them make it my grandpa pulls them out with his hands there’s a chain wrapped around the thing’s chest…

Hour 13 He Rules the Pen Is retirement a profession? When did becoming a permanent cat bed become a daily requirement? He rules the pen.

I can spot a good vein across the room. Pulsing, thick, blue lines in a curved elbow, a graceful hand fluttering with thin veins spiderwebbing over dainty wrists, slender arms my finger ghosts over, seeking, searching, feeling the firmness, the dense flow that ebbs just beneath, the…

Light overcame darkness, the whole sky turned blue, birds started chirping, flowers got ready to bloom, A new day started, hope giving us another chance.

I walk into the classroom, lanyard around my neck I brace myself, cover my ears, the rooms already wrecked. Tiny little bodies only three and four years old Run around, tossing things, acting very bold. Circle time is like herding cats, first weeks are a…