Ken Slaughter Verse-Virtual 2017 May

May 2017

I have survived 30 years in Information Technology and am now retired. I live in Massachusetts with my wife and two cats. I am currently serving as Vice President of the Tanka Society of America. My tanka poetry has been published in many online and print journals.

Playing Pool with Harold

For this visit
he doesn’t bother wearing the wig.

His legs look wooden and thin.
A blue and gray sweatshirt
sags from his shoulders -
he’s always cold.

In the basement
we chalk our cue sticks
and reminisce
about a problem we solved
in the year-end program
at a time when we thought
we were really smart.

I rack the balls.
He lines up to break
and all the colors of a rainbow
explode on the table.

Empty Spaces
(A Tanka Sequence)

years
since I’ve touched these keys
...Mom
plays Moon River
with my fingers

a passerby
speaks in a foreign tongue
to his wife -
I eavesdrop
on his tone of voice

a bird’s nest
on a storefront sign
inside the C…
empty spaces
I never knew were there

not knowing
what to say next
I look to the sky -
light years
between each answer

dark clouds
yet in the distance
a soft glow
comes over the trees -
there, the sun must be shining

First Published in Red Lights