Exclusive: Western Voices, 2020: Edited by Scott Thomas Outlar
Bio: Ann Christine
Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She is
the winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year
(Poetic), has been internationally published, and won poetry awards from
numerous publications. She is the author of 10 poetry books. She has
recently been published in several micro-fiction anthologies and short story
publications. Christine lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and
cooking. Christine lives with her husband and three cats. Her most recent
credits are: The American Writers Review; The Phoenix; Burningword Literary
Journal; Muddy River Poetry Review; The Write Connection; Ethos Literary
Journal; North of Oxford; Pomona Valley Review; Page & Spine; West Texas
Literary Review; The Hungry Chimera; Sheila-Na-Gig; Foliate Oak Review; The
Stray Branch; The McKinley Review; and Fourth & Sycamore.
The Bartered Life
Crust
falls from his eyes
as he
wakes up in the gutter.
For a
moment, he does not
remember
where he is.
In sleep
he dreamed of
a warm
room and soft bed.
In
reality, they are a distant past,
bartered
for one moment of pleasure.
He
traded his existence
for an
empty promise.
Bleak
days and lonely nights
are all
he has to show.
Begging
for loose change
to fill
his need.
A need
stronger than
his
desire to live.
He rolls
over once again,
claiming
the gutter as his home.
Yard Kitsch
It stood
in the front yard for years,
that
gaudy plastic bird.
First
smirked at then ignored,
it faded
over time.
A fad
from some past era,
it had
its place once.
No one
remembered when
it first
appeared – it was always there.
Walking
by it daily,
heads
shook in disbelief.
But, to
the little old man
who
lived within the house,
it was a
treasure,
bringing
back gleeful years
when she
puttered in the gardens.
It was
all he had left to remember her by.
She was
so excited when she found it,
those
may years ago.
How
could he not buy it for her,
the love
of his life?
Now, it
stands in the yard,
as it
tiptoes into a pale existence,
he
follows …
Wonderful, poetry to remind us of forgotten things. That much remains unknown to us in the most common relations with the world.
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