Eight times daily, four at night,
A dragon roared and snorted
And rattled by on its way somewhere.
Each time, our floors all bounced.
Every window frame would rattle.
The ceiling seemed to sway to and fro.
Our house would grumble wearily
And almost everyone would sleep fitfully.
No one dared challenge this dragon
With steel grated prow, iron skin body.
Smoke and fire poured out of its fiery inside
As it snorted steam and clanked along
Daring the unwary to cross its path.
Now and then, it seemed to run amok,
Rushing madly on its way to where
We lived beside the dragon’s tracks
As I’m still alive to testify.
#NationalTrainDay
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 MAY 2024
A MAGICAL MOMENT IN TIME (South of the Border)
The brown-eyed children are at play,
a light-as-air dream symphony.
Before, unnoticed, it slips away
pause and listen to melody:
The dark-eyed children’s laughter sells
marimba clear. Such music spins
a fairy wonder of lilting bells
as sweet as the sound of mandolins.
DRAGON
Eight times daily, four at night,
A dragon roared and snorted
And rattled by on its way somewhere.
Each time, our floors all bounced.
Every window frame would rattle.
The ceiling seemed to sway to and fro.
Our house would grumble wearily
And almost everyone would sleep fitfully.
No one dared challenge this dragon
With steel grated prow, iron skin body.
Smoke and fire poured out of its fiery inside
As it snorted steam and clanked along
Daring the unwary to cross its path.
Now and then, it seemed to run amok,
Rushing madly on its way to where
We lived beside the dragon’s tracks
As I’m still alive to testify.
#NationalTrainDay
Jewish Danes Return Home
Defeated, at last, they set us free.
But what remained of home for us?
What family waited for us there, what friends?
Who had saved our small treasures
From thieves and bombs?
What house could welcome us
In our poverty and wretchedness?
We expected nothing
Our fear was unassuaged.
But you were there
So many, so many…
With banners and songs,
And cheering “Welcome!
Welcome home!”
And we were led
To the homes from which
We were taken,
To our homes, our businesses
Which you had saved for us
During our dark imprisonment.
More than your weeks of
proud defiance
More than your years of
stubborn persistence
and acts of courage,
The day of our return,
This day of our return,
This was the greatest gift
The greatest honor.
#Denmarkliberation
AUTHOR NOTES
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
The poem “A MAGICAL MOMENT IN TIME,” was written originally for a local contest in Lakewood, California. When sharing this later with her Round Robin poet friends in 1990, she included this notation: Here’s my Also Ran (Pan-American [Festival] Contest). One of the judges wrote a little note on it. Said ‘I wanted this to go on longer.’ Of course, I was trying to suggest the fleeting quality of this “moment in time” but guess it didn’t come across. It is included this week for Cinco de Mayo.
REFRACTIONS—a poem by Robert Roxby
“DRAGON” is included this week for May 11, National Train Day. The poem likely describes a time in the poet’s youth when his coal miner family lived beside or near a railroad track. The poem was included in his anthology, Reflections of a Lifetime.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“JEWISH DANES RETURN HOME, 1945” is included this week for May 5, Denmark Liberation Day. The author was inspired to write this poem after viewing a documentary of how the Danes struggled to keep their Jewish population safe from their Nazi invaders. Having at last failed to keep all safe, they beleaguered the Nazi regime throughout the war with communications that said the people of Denmark were holding the Nazis responsible for the well-being of the Jews while they had them in out of country confinement.
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 MAY 2024
LADY ON THE ISLAND
On an island that is very small
Stands a lady straight and tall
With hand far outstretched to hold
A torch that lights a way boldly
To a freedom for all or one.
Her right clasps a written bond
To guarantee such rights for everyone
Plus a chance to catch dreams
And enjoy a life secured from harm.
#loyalty
FLOWER ARRANGEMENT IN PINK PLASTIC
Roses, waxen-pale
A static sweetness
Clustered in cool conformity
Smug among painted leaves
Only three
And these at odds
A preposterous perpetual triangle
One pointing due North
One slanting due South
One striking out for overhead
With glorious impossible bravado
But the gladioli
Imprisoned in rootless glass
Strive vainly for release
#poetrymonth
#gardenmeditation