By Nicole Babich
On The Canterbury Tales:
". . . And as we did before, let's laugh and play."
And then they kissed and rode forth on their way.
Bad men in life can teach us lessons
Of how they keep us guessin'
They act fun and make merry
Because their sins they simply bury
We pay taxes
While the man in charge at the spa relaxes
Or Mitt Romney in secret says he cares about the rich
But the next day for the poor man's vote he makes a pitch
These men deceive themselves and act almighty
However their affairs are not kept tidy
Never trust a sketchy man
He usually has a hidden plan
Morals are cast away
When money comes to play
An honorable man is better off without
Of his moral integrity God will shout
Chaucer tells us a conscience is often lost
My dears don't pay that high of a cost
Don't become a pardoner who needs his own pardon
Be instead a farmer who tends justly to his own garden
[See April 5's posting for a brief statement about Nicole Babich.]
* * * * * * * * * *
“spider haven sanctuary”
By Mary Peters
memory stands
on the shoulders of fatigue,
looks through the cobwebbed windows,
a daring voyeur.
trees, shot full of woodpecker holes,
give wide berth to this screen house,
part treehouse, part hide-out,
built before Bonnie met Clyde.
hipped roof
long past-due for replacement.
bruised, dried blood screens,
victims.
the door, more welcome sign
than barricade,
its door and jamb
still acquainted, meet less often now.
speak easy, husky hinges,
barely heard
over the gun-shot clap,
are taken by a wind-urged slam.
I push aside curtained webs,
give chase to lowlife,
intrude on all manner of vagrants.
another fugitive seeks sanctuary.
“As a grandmother and educator, I am especially grateful to share word pictures and stories with young children, as well as those who teach and nurture them. Here’s a poem for the grown-ups.”
