Ann Christine Tabaka (Western Voices 2020)

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 …

1 comment :

  1. Wonderful, poetry to remind us of forgotten things. That much remains unknown to us in the most common relations with the world.

    ReplyDelete

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