August 2017
Michael L. Newell
astrangertotheland@yahoo.com
After spending one-third of my life abroad, I have retired to the south-central Oregon coast where I can enjoy rain, lots of rain, my favorite weather condition.

Jakub Wysocki
                                   Tallinn, Estonia, Spring 2002
 
A quiet lad, no words
wasted on casual conversation,
he could go days without
saying a word in class.
 
So imagine his concern
when he was required
to recite a speech
from Julius Caesar.
 
Silent as always he
stood in front of the class.
We all winced at the tension
clenching his features.
 
Then he spoke, and his voice
was an organ rolling
through a full-throated passage,
a virtuoso performance
 
pulling out all the stops,
timbres of every hue
filling the room. No one breathed.
When he finished, he rushed
 
head down for his seat.
The applause startled him.
He lifted his head, stared.
Dawn broke across his face.                         
 
from A Long Time Traveling (Four-Sep Publications, 2004)
©2017 Michael L. Newell
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