February 2022
Ken Slaughter
kslaught1@gmail.com
Bio Note: I had the honor of being an early contributor to VV and I miss the community spirit. Most of my poems are written in the short forms of tanka, haiku and senyru, but I do write some that are a bit longer. You can find my shorter poems on instagram@ksla1948. I live in Worcester, Massachusetts with my wife - and I am owned by two one-eyed cats.

Trees Outside my Window

bare-limbed souls
of Buddhist monks

reincarnated
for thinking too much

frozen
in one present moment

suspended between ideas
until the next life

At the Courthouse

last year’s leaves
scattered on the ground 
after the hearing

we walk 
without speaking
to our cars

shivering
in the march wind
and still holding hands

My Resurrection

A Sumo wrestler sits like a stone
at the entrance to a tomb
where my body seems to be
and I can’t find
a way out.

I thought the script called
for a real stone
but who knows where
in the caverns of my past
this dream comes from

and I can't even imagine
the miracle skills
it would take to save
this revolving heartbreak
of a world.

Please, Lord, if You’re there
send angels, enlightenment
and a Dunkin’ medium
with two sugars
and cream

and - if I don’t see You -
thanks in advance
for the coffee, the grace

and the morning sun
so warm on my face.
©2022 Ken Slaughter
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL