I don’t want to write
I don’t want to write about trees today. Or the sun
and moon. Or how bombs fall on the heads of the young
in countries I’m trying to understand. How sunlight
feels on a quiet morning uninterrupted by ambulances
and the wailing of mothers and fathers.
That the moon, noticed moving over any sky,
anywhere in the world, can halt a finger on a trigger
with its mystery, hesitate the charging of a missile
or the sound of a shovel and pick on the side of the road.
And that trees, no matter how mangled,
want to grow back, survive, if the smallest thought
of roots remain, like a kid waking startled
in the night, not from a bad dream,
but remembering playgrounds and parties.
~*~
Larry D. Thacker’s poetry can be found in over a hundred publications including Spillway, The Still Journal, American Journal of Poetry, Poetry South, Mad River Review, The Southern Poetry Anthology, Mojave River Review, Town Creek Poetry, and Appalachian Heritage. His books include Mountain Mysteries, and the poetry books, Drifting in Awe, Voice Hunting, Memory Train, and the forthcoming full collections, Feasts of Evasion and Grave Robber Confessional. His MFA in poetry and fiction is earned from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Visit his website at: www.larrydthacker.com
Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier is an internationally published writer and visual artist. She has been a ‘Wild Musette’, ‘Existere Journal of Art and Literature’, ‘Vine Leaves Literary Journal’, ‘Gigantic Sequins’ and ‘Gateway Review’ cover artist and featured in New York’s ‘Calliope Magazine’ and ‘WebSafe2k16’, Toronto’s ‘The Scarborough Big Arts Book’, New South Wales’ ‘Long Exposure Magazine’, Los Angeles ‘The Lunch Ticket’, ‘Stonecrop Lit Journal’ and ‘Dek Unu’. Recently she contributed images to Ottawa’s ‘A Caged Mind’. She also designs for San Francisco’s VIDA, supporting ‘Literacy for Life’. See more on her website www.kcbgphoto.com and follow @KBG_Tweets.
The featured image is called “On Moon Time”.
Featured image by Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier
Punch Drunk Press 