Patti Masterman Poems

broken stone tool wielder
patient flint fire striker
round rolling wheel finder
winter cave hide wearer
...

When touching your two cheeks
There's a map there of the first time
The fingertips felt the smooth
Flesh coaxing- not pushy, not teasing-
...

Quick as a wink you find yourself alone
And you go to find that lost music
Hidden so carefully inside yourself
On some long ago hide and seek,
...

After I am gone
Graceful geese will still
Sweep towards the horizon, honking
There will still be the sudden
...

The world shrank again, today.
The phone call came early- someone had died.
Someone nice, and down to earth, and
Genuinely kind; well liked by more than a few.
...

When you're young,
Everything lasts forever:
A summer is years long,
And childhood lasts for eons.
...

Once you've given your all,
You're off the hook. No need to grovel
Or apologize, make up, ingratiate-
No, you're finished now. The book is closed.
...

Where angels fear to tread, there go I:
Stomping in my heavy boots, tracking earth
I always have to do it; why oh why
Can't I ever learn, a sense of mirth's
...

I wanted to write some poetry
I wrote down words that I thought were beautiful
Enough to crawl; but they could not stroll:
They slammed the door in my face
...

Would I choose to live in a world
Where your breath was exhausted
Your rare flowering blood, wasted
Poured out on the branch of random chance?
...