February 2024
Russell G. Winick
rvwinick@sbcglobal.net
Bio Note: I began writing poetry several years ago at nearly age 65, after concluding a long career as a business attorney. Among my foremost poetic inspirations are Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker, and Robert Frost. My poems have appeared in The Lyric Magazine, Lighten Up Online, Westward Quarterly, and Grand Little Things, in addition to Verse-Virtual and other fine online and print journals.

Tell Every Teenager

Tell every teenager
Struggling with self-esteem
Most issues aren’t major
However hard things seem.

And though they don’t see now
That in truth they’re OK
Without a doubt somehow
They’ll know it well one day.

Unknown

All of those times
When for whatever reasons,
You chose not to tell us
About your experiences
Or to share your emotions,
Instead just making jokes,
Did it ever occur to you
That after you’re gone
As you are now
We’d know your jokes
Better than we knew you?

Disembarking Joy

His family coming there was not the norm.
But as he left the train his little boy
Ran confidently down the long platform,
Then jumped into his arms with love-swept joy.

And he recalls what he was moved to say,
Immediately to his beaming wife,
For it remains true up until this day – 
That was the greatest moment of his life.
©2024 Russell G. Winick
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