Poetry: Norman J. Olson

Bio: Norman J. Olson is a small press poet and artist who was born in 1948. Since his first publication in 1984, he has published poetry and art work in 15 countries and all over the USA. You can see his art work at http://normanjolson.com/

Norman J. Olson

winter image poem #137

a garbage truck and a 

cartoon cat screamed in silent bondage at 

the snowbound street.  windows 

cried real tears…  

were they looking for redemption or 

expiation?  who knows? who cares?  reflections of 

unreality lit 

up the blank walls  

and snow slipped silently 

through the cracks… there were windmills as 

far as the eye could see 

but nothing moved 

and  

the neon sky tore 

the silence to shreds… 

***

winter image poem #6 

ice age angels, cool as glass,  

tore through the 

bleak suburban 

houses…  red tail lights led straight 

to the gates of hell…  no, this is not 

a religious story!!!  it is simply a  

rather garbled confession… 

the saints 

have gone marching in…  while the suburban 

houses burned, and stained glass 

windows turned black 

with desire or disease… 

I found myself on my knees, praying to a god 

I do not believe in for forgiveness of sins 

I did not commit…  my fingers have gone 

mad 

and with nuclear winter just around  

the corner, it seems that we 

are now  

shadows 

on  

the  

snow… 

***

 

winter image poem #85 

anthropomorphic trees 

writhe and groan  

in the shivering breeze…  trial balloons 

explode on 

the unseen flat screen like 

something that  

can barely  

remember being alive… 

time may or may not be real, but it is spiraling away… 

tomorrow, the  

bricks will get 

up and  

dance down the street… 

what dream guides 

my typing fingers?  what night 

is coming?

***

 

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Setu, January 2023