I have a few magazines to whom I’m considering submitting poems. Of coruse, that means dragging out all of the old poem files and reviewing what is there. This is a poem I wrote several years ago in the middle of a conflict with a friend. It’s not my best work, but some of the imagery is interesting. Comments welcome.

Polite Conversation

She said she was fine
her tone indicating otherwise
a gathering of flies picking
carefully through the conversation

Once, we shared our inner worlds
where closeted skeletons
greeted each other as friends.
We fought rabid–river rides
tumbling–turning in our make–shift raft
but always catching each other
before the current engulfed us.

She spoke now in staccato utterances
phrases chosen like steps
through piranha–infested water

The Bay Wonder Mare has been losing weight. Not just a little, but quite a bit. The barn owners were concerned and so was I. Isis hadn’t seemed like her normal self. She seemed lethargic and quiet. Dull. I taped her tonight. Before the surgery, the weight tape said she weighed 950-985. Tonight, she taped at 812. I’m calling the vet first thing in the morning. We have to be able to put her back on some grain and hopefully her supplement to help fight off the skin crud she has.