Choirs (3rd Draft): A sort-of sonnet

Goodbye Fredericksburg (1st Draft): a 30 line free verse

Inside Outside (5th draft): a sort-of-haiku

Midsummer Classic (2nd Draft): a sort-of-haiku

Coalesce (1st Draft): a sort-of-haiku

Choirs (3rd Draft)

What does it mean to live to work to try
I sat awake, I dream, at attention
Sat wondering why I wonder God, why?
The chill of echoes remains in motion
The prancing prairie dogs scramble and hide
From shadows o’er their heads that scream and cry
Tenors, basses, seraphim, Why God why?
Cold fires sing faults, sing flaws, taking their sides
Veiled eyes dance solo, spinning and crossing
And falling into place beside my throne
Towering higher and higher, feathers
Melting I cry no more, bereft, alone
But silence, he, though eternally near,
Replies, the wind banks darkly, far from here.

Goodbye Fredericksburg (1st Draft)

Goodbye molded bread
And burnt ramen noodles
Goodbye community fridges with Chinese food from
Midterms in exam week
Goodbye girl’s field hockey in pajamas and socks
The ball ricocheting off the RA’s door
Goodbye thunderous air conditioners
That billow winter winds into the summer heat
Goodbye silverfish; I will not miss you
You have so many legs, a ball of writhing needles
So long lack of parking spaces
The walk to my car half the commute to work
So long revving engines on College Avenue
Ambulance, fire trucks, and police sirens screaming
So long Carl’s Frozen Custard, standing solemn and rich
Fredericksburg gravitates round you
So long history
Girdles, corsets and bonnets run rampant
So long Fun Land, place of children and bored young adults
And college students in kilts spinning and dancing on the mats
Goodbye constant construction
The towering construct, the busiest building on campus removed
Goodbye horrendously slow internet
And suspiciously sectioned off bandwidth for academic prioritizing
Goodbye cops conveniently paused in the turn lanes
With their lights off, waiting at the bottom of the hill
Goodbye jaywalkers of William Street
A fence now robs them of reason
Good bye Fredericksburg, Virginia;
Second home uncontested.

Inside Outside (5th draft)

Midsummer thunder
A horse frolics in the field
He does not mind rain

Midsummer Classic (2nd Draft)

Flashbulbs all alight
Beads of sweat cling to skin
Players run ablaze

Coalesce (1st Draft)

Rifts in the body
Artificial light hides night
Chirps drown dogs afoot