posting in ghost towns

i drive many hours

through ghost towns, abandoned

poetry groups, planting words

with pants and images

with wings to flutter

inside hearts like butterflies

decorating the walls

hosts have left behind

for guests passing

through zombie towns to post

their songs; but the brainless

seldom see music

leaving me to dance alone

with not even a single applause

testing my inner mettle

to roam the towns

bereft of taste and depth

of rational, observable substance

henry victor           11.12.2018

two little goslings

as the sun went down to settle

in his home before the nightfall 

i went for a stroll

along a man-made canal

and in the twilight my eyes fell

now on a gosling stuck

on a cement crack

making her un-swim able

to run to her company

and she pulled and pulled until

a piece of skin too was floating

so i bent down to pick

to hold and to heal

the injured gosling

but trusting not my stance

that was nothing but pastoral

she swam as fast as she could

with one hand holding the hanging piece

i walked further and much farther

with a helpless thought

and a new pain in my heart

only to encounter yet another

gosling lost and lonely

and again i stretched my hand

picking her from waters cold

to hold her closer to my warm chest

while she trustingly

settled in my palm

henry victor       28.03.2007

 

cushioning of nests

murmuring i heard coming through windows

not shut in heaven closer to corridors

opened to slums of children!

heaven confused of ambitious preachers

serving prestigious churches in cities

while sanctuaries elsewhere permanently deserted!

generous gifts and atmosphere of apathy

produced by great organ-music so expensive

are signs for pinnacle of worldly success!

costly stained glass windows permit not

into sanctuary rays of light from slums

and the loud grief and cries of children!

supply station has been transformed by the rich

and their angelic allies into the place of refuge

with no errands except cushioning of nests!

henry victor     21.07.2002