May 2024
Joe Miano
jmiano@cox.net
jmiano@cox.net
Bio Note: I am a retired physics teacher who has written poems ever since High School. I have taught in Kenya with the Peace Corps, in South Bend, Indiana, and in Oklahoma City and have published two historical fiction novels: A Thief in the African Night: The Conflicts of Change in 2020 and The Scribe of Akrai: Luxo Reveals the Secrets of Trinacria in 2022.They each include a few of my poems and are available on Amazon.
Editor's Note: I asked Joe about the setting of this poem and learned that it's about the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma by a domestic terrorist. I remember.
Editor's Note: I asked Joe about the setting of this poem and learned that it's about the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma by a domestic terrorist. I remember.
Thirty Years Less One
On the cusp of April
Bright white tulips
Fill our hearts with new life
The blood red ones
Scar and remind us
Of the one-hundred-sixty-eight
Innocents who died.
White blossoms fill the earth
Yet, we cannot forget.
The pines
Twenty-seven sentinels
Stand guard
Around the chairs -
Chairs which sit upon the dead
Next to the quiet pool
Reflecting these mighty trees
And chairs
Back toward the sky
Where the innocent souls
Both young and old
Now reside.
Now, thirty years less one
We cannot forget
How men's mouths incite
Hate
Which causes the sky to cry
Most bitter tears
For all
Who now here lie!
©2024 Joe Miano
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