Three ‘Free Verses’ (as well they should be!) by @jackaurquhart

Unforgivable

Three squirrels feed
On the meager seed
I scatter
Familial, skittish
They chatter and chide

Tattered tails
Unfurled like ship sails
Their backsides
From every angle
Guilelessly exposed

While just there—
Amidst the heather—
A black cat
Crouches stealthily
A pitch dark angel

In silence
From a safe distance
I observe
Knowing full and well
What will happen next

Wet Dream

I have a recurrent dream—
a dream of loving you
Together we swim
over sheets warm as beach sand
the ebb and flow of coverlets
thrashing, frothing, periwinkle blue
washes our salted bodies
We are slick with spray
anchored, drowning together
awash in gravity
Had I the weight of the moon
I would will this nightly ritual
steady as the tides

In a dream, I hear my children

Though they are long gone
in a dream I hear my children
at play again
Their icicle laughter
tinkles ‘round the dormers
of consciousness
chatters at the windowsill
of memory
The ruckus they raise
is winter-green
blizzard sharp
crisp as clean delight
Despairing, I awaken
no doors to slam
no windows to shut
Nothing to mute the cold clarity
the wintered beauty
of a moment lost

About jaurquhart

Jack Andrew Urquhart was born in the American South. Following undergraduate work at the University of Florida, Gainesville, he taught in Florida's public schools. He earned a Master of Arts degree in English, Creative Writing, from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he was the winner of the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Award for Fiction (1991). His work has appeared online at Clapboard House Literary Journal, Crazyhorse Literary Journal, and Standards: The International Journal of Multicultural Studies. He is the author of So They Say, a collection of self-contained, inter-connected stories and the short story, They Say You Can Stop Yourself Breathing. Formerly a writing instructor at the University of Colorado’s Writing Program, Mr. Urquhart was, until 2010, a senior analyst for the Judicial Branch of California. He resides in Washington State.

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3 Responses to Three ‘Free Verses’ (as well they should be!) by @jackaurquhart

marydpierce says:

November 26, 2013 at 1:39 pm

Stunning, all three. I’m not surprised at how good they are, but you don’t usually share your poetry (I’m wracking my tired brain to think if I’ve seen any from you). Please post more.

And, can you also tell me how you managed single space on WordPress??

- Lorinda J. Taylor says:
  
  November 26, 2013 at 1:42 pm
  
  Mary, do a line break rather than paragraphing. Use SHIFT + ENTER.
  
Lorinda J. Taylor says:

November 26, 2013 at 1:40 pm

I didn’t know you wrote poetry, Jack! These are excellent. I particularly like the last one. Keep at it!