Flames, flames, flames raging, roaring flames
Burning, burning, burning my city, home and people
Smoke, acrid air and ashes, ashes, ashes
Hopes and dreams burning like tinder
Blackened hulks, shattered glass shards
Left behind like a dismembered corpse
Clean up the debris, wash down the streets
Rebuild the structures, restock the shelves
This time leave all the front open
Put no artificial, barriers there again
Forgive, if we can, those who assailed
Tore down that façade we had in place
Yes, we will need help from somewhere
All of us, victim and assailant alike
Have aches to relieve, hates to cleanse
Let us stretch our souls just a bit
Help each other to start out anew
Heal the wounds, rebuild our city
This time, let it shine with love
AUTHOR NOTES
GLASS RAIN – a poem by Margaret Roxby
“SUNLIGHT ON THE CAMPUS is included this week for February 1, National Freedom Day. This poem was inspired when the author received a letter from her friend, Elena (then a new older student at Berkeley University), describing her delight at being at the university. The poem was first published in 1976 in Poetry Forum.
KALEIDOSCOPE—by Kathleen Roxby
“ARTICLES AND PRONUNCIATION WILLFULNESS” is another in the author’s series on the oddities of the English language.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—a poem by Kathleen Roxby
“MARGINS” is included this week for National Freedom Day, February 1. While still in school the poet began noticing comments/drawings which appeared in the margins of her fellow students’ tablets and also in the margins of used books. This led her to think beyond that image to the wider interpretation of what a margin is. The thought expressed in this poem was often the subject of conversations in her family home.
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 2023
FIRE STATION, ’92
Flames, flames, flames raging, roaring flames
Burning, burning, burning my city, home and people
Smoke, acrid air and ashes, ashes, ashes
Hopes and dreams burning like tinder
Blackened hulks, shattered glass shards
Left behind like a dismembered corpse
Clean up the debris, wash down the streets
Rebuild the structures, restock the shelves
This time leave all the front open
Put no artificial, barriers there again
Forgive, if we can, those who assailed
Tore down that façade we had in place
Yes, we will need help from somewhere
All of us, victim and assailant alike
Have aches to relieve, hates to cleanse
Let us stretch our souls just a bit
Help each other to start out anew
Heal the wounds, rebuild our city
This time, let it shine with love
THE ACCOUNTANTS ARE GATHERING
The accountants are circling
The printer that won’t
Tra-la, Tra-la
The audit’s on hold
For the data in queue
Tra-la, Tra-la
For spreadsheets and statements
Print-buffered and stalled
Tra-la, Tra-la
Send an alarm. Go send it now.
For, yes, it’s I.T. that they need!
Tra-la, Tra-la
Swift is I.T, so swift indeed.
The printer begins to hum!
Tra-la, Tra-la
The accountants, like birds, they are—
They swoop, and they grasp and then circle away
Tra-la, Tra-la
Till a clicking of calculators
Is all that we hear
Tra-la, Tra-la
No thanks for I.T.
Just a very deep sigh
Tra-la, Tra-la
“New sums to be found”
is the hum that is heard
Tra-la, Tra-la
The accountants have faded away
Behind reams of paper and columns to add
Tra-la, Tra-la
And all is quiet again
Along the whole financial front
Tra-la, Tra-la
So sing Hallelujah and shout hooray!
For I.T. has saved yet another day.
Tra-la, Tra-la
Tra-la, Tra-la
AS TIME HATH WROUGHT
Wild was the west
In the east of my heart.
Wild in the east of the west.
AUTHOR NOTES
ANOTHER SPECTRUM—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
‘ODE TO A TISSUE BOX” is a new poem written following a month-long illness. It is included as a special issue for January under the Another Spectrum feature which is reserved for submissions as there were no submissions this month.
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“AS TIME HAS WROUGHT,” is included this week for January 25, Opposite Day. The poem was found among the author’s papers.
REFRACTIONS—the poetry of Robert Roxby
“FIRE STATION, ‘92” is included this week as a nod to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a connection by metaphor only. The poem first appeared in the author’s collection, Reflections of a Lifetime.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“THE ACCOUNTANTS ARE COMING,” is included this week for January 27, National Fun at Work Day. The poem first appeared in the author’s chapbook, Tangent/Allusion, 2001.
#Opposite Day
#National Fun at Work Day
#International Holocaust Remembrance Day
ODE TO A TISSUE BOX
O, tissue box,
tissue box,
you are ever near
when I need you
O, tissue box,
tissue box,
you comfort me
in the night
when I wake
with cough
or stuffy nose
You greet me
in the morning
like a faithful pet
You meet me
in every room
In the kitchen
as I prepare a meal
a cup of tea
beside the chair
where I try to read
or watch tv
even in the laundry
as I wash my clothes
O, tissue box,
tissue box,
you are my comfort
my dear companion
in the days
of my illness
O, tissue box,
tissue box,
even when I am well
you shall ever hold
my affection
be forever
my honored guest
SPLINTERS FOR JANUARY 2023
panic IN THE BLACK QUARTER
Run!
Run to your homes!
Grab your child,
Your husband, wife,
Neighbor…
Run!
Hide!
Behind the door
Beneath the stoep
In a cave
In a ditch.
Hide!
Then pray:
Lord, please
Let the torches be blind
Tonight. Lord,
Let the moon white shadows
Pass me by tonight.
Lord, lord,
Make me not afraid
not afraid
not afraid…