INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Duane Locke
Elisavietta Ritchie
Sam Cornish
Alan Britt
Shutta Crum
Joseph McNair
Geoffrey Philip
Lazlo Slomovits
Gerald Clark
Chris Lord
Coleman Barks
Marisella Veiga
Joanie Freeman
Dave Etter
Steve Barfield
scharCbear
Michael D. Long
Karyn M. Wolven
Running Cub
Silvia Scheibli
Smiling like a flush gambler
you adjust your cap against the sun,
slip a ball from beneath your skirt,
position yourself for the serve.
I concentrate on that ball
the color of August daisies
glowing along the river drive
about twenty-five minutes out
along my jogging route.
These daisies that grow along the curve
where no house is visible
and an oak grove shades the river shoreline.
Where a week before I saw a goldfinch pair
flit across the road and railroad tracks
into the shrubs and grasses bordering the trees.
Tennis ball, daisies, goldfinch
of a color merged
as you toss the serve.
Enjoying your smile, your tennis cap,
I shift my weight,
step, swivel to enter the spin of the ball.
Trusting that we see color with the mind.
Michael D. Long, Ann Arbor