Breathing Poetry

Written by K. Lawson Gilbert
She lives in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, USA
Her blog: Old Mossy Moon

Tombstones

rise up
in a stubble
of gray warts
across the great
green body of
the memorial lawn
fungus of the
dead and gone
telling us about
who we used to be.

Originally published on writer's personal blog.
Posted with consent of the writer.

Written by K. Lawson Gilbert
She lives in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, USA
Her blog: Old Mossy Moon

Icons

I started out life flanked by my
mother’s wild flower garden
and the Kanawha river,
that ran cold and choppy
over the shoals that held
fresh water mussel beds,
ancient in their ruin.

I was captured at an early age,
held prisoner, then protected
by the mountains all around me.

At night, I was lulled to sleep
by the rhythmic clankety-clank
of the coal trains,
pulsing up and down the tracks
- like blood in veins -
keeping the people alive.

Originally published on writer's personal blog.
Posted with consent of the writer.