How can words be used to
Describe how much I cherish you?!
No words I put together seem right
Because my feelings run so deeply and,
Cross such broad fields of love that
No sentence seems able to catch it all.
Perhaps the vaulted ceiling of the sky
May be able to convey how deep and wide
I feel about the friendship we share.
O, muse of poetry, help me to sing.
Fill my mind with words to say how much.
It is as though my life has changed so
I am not sure who I am anymore.
You have filled a void I did not know I had.
THE LAND OF BEYOND
Arnheim, a perfect reality
A fairy-train that moved us
Beyond mountains
And sleeping hurricanes
And memory takes us backward
On the path to our last wild mountains
And sleeping hurricanes.
PRACTICING CHI
As a prow cuts through the sea,
I force the wall of sky to part and let me fly
I practice Chi
upon my swing
As a bird strikes its wings against the air
calling the wind,
I climb the seconds against the pull of Earth
racing to catch the wind
I practice Chi
upon my bike
As the windsock blossoms upon the wind,
I move as music spills through my veins
I practice Chi
in my dance
As the sudden sight of the mountain
may hold still a life for that moment,
So may I hold one who watches
separate from the past, present, future
I practice Chi
in stillness
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.
Guidelines for submission:
SPLINTERS FOR JANUARY 2025
AUTHOR NOTES
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“POE.” This poet was a favorite of the author’s to the point where she read some of his poetry to her young daughter of elementary school age. This scrap was found among the loose papers on her desk after her death. Work, apparently, was still in progress—not unlike Poe himself.
KALEIDOSCOPE—from a series by Kathleen Roxby on the English language
“CHERUS.” We bring you this desperate word search the same week National Word Nerd occurs. The emotion expressed in the poem are most likely about his wife. The two were very close, especially meeting in their late twenties and then losing the first baby as a shock right at birth.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“THE WRITER” is also included this week as a nod to National Word Nerd, January 2. The author did experience something very like this moment described. When asked about it, she replied, “People think a writer’s life is easy. They don’t know.”
CHERISH
How can words be used to
Describe how much I cherish you?!
No words I put together seem right
Because my feelings run so deeply and,
Cross such broad fields of love that
No sentence seems able to catch it all.
Perhaps the vaulted ceiling of the sky
May be able to convey how deep and wide
I feel about the friendship we share.
O, muse of poetry, help me to sing.
Fill my mind with words to say how much.
It is as though my life has changed so
I am not sure who I am anymore.
You have filled a void I did not know I had.
POE
He fled
The bounds mundane of Earth
To follow lustrous stars
October nights
Strange and wild
And roamed in Arnheim
THE WRITER
You have presented
Your demands to
Me, but I must
Write, must now not
Attend to you. Please
Go away and for just
This little while amuse
Yourself till
The writing is
Stilled.
No, you can’t be
Sent away today?
(I realize this will not do.)
Do not expect all
Of me to come with you.
A small bit will still
Hang back
To rework
The puzzle of words
Within my mind
While the rest of me
Moves outward
To meet your needs
For as long as no other choice
Is possible.
Should you give
One excuse, I will
Escape back
To the words
Which push
Their insistent
Worlds into mine.
There I will remain
Till the words retreat
From my grasp and
I am once again aware
Of longing for your
Company.
In these moments when I am away
I am
Not lost to you.
You are yet there with
Me, warming the chill
From a damp
Daylight and lightening
Fear filled nights.
I shall always
Return to you from
This lonely place
of words. Please,
This time
Will you stay near and
Wait just a
Little while?
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.
Guidelines for submission:
SPLINTERS FOR JANUARY 2025