3 poems

illustrations by penmarq studios

sonnet to rosa luxemburg by author unknown o rosa, when the world is new and fascists no longer thrive the workers will look back on you and wish you were still alive rosa, when you walked the earth your truth was met with scorn but soon a new world will come forth with the human race reborn what monument could tell the tale of all your wandering? The sleepless nights in garret and jail no bard could ever sing look! a new star in the sky - brighter than astarte' It is the torch you held aloft - for the party!

i dreamed i went to hippie heaven by hortense "blue star" sternwall the devils dance and the angels sing because violence never solved anything and cherubs brimming with peace and love will kindly give you a final shove from the rain slick rail of the bridge of sighs and as you sail down in your final disguise your black mustache and your goo goo eyes your crafty truths and your pathetic lies the star-eyed children of the frozen deep will welcome you to your final sleep and mermaids with flowers in their hair will smile as you enter their watery lair i don't mean to be pick-nitical because who am i to be critical but wouldn't it all be a bore if we had all been there before and all the same dragons and all the same gods played the same old cards with the same odds and all the games were fixed and there were no new tricks

sonnet ccxlvii by horace p sternwall balancing a perfect cabbage on his finely manicured nail the cardinal engaged in badinage in a shower of icy hail on the steps of the cathedral as a succulent roasted quail waited in the dining hall prior to the final sale of king herod's last crown jewels (but that is another tale) and salome, famously cruel to all hapless human males danced above the altar's flames as the cabbage ate saint james