Ronald Shields Poems

The savage stick
does not come softly,
it is swift,
full of vengeance
...

Seeds and miracles
A mechanical spirit
The Father, The Mother,
sons of steel, daughters of the revolution.
...

-the smell of water
a scent hanging in the air
a trail through parched, barren land
now greened by rain
...

How to be guiltless
when penance is the sin?
I am wary of a Redeemer,
A Nazarene claiming all souls,
...

Tossed on the heap
I molder under the weight of a thousand gulls
picking at my eyes, coveting my liver.
Just another pile of bones
...

Like an elephant.
Like the Man on Wire.
Like anyone, I want it
on my own terms.
...

The neighbor
is clearing his driveway of
snow too deep to shovel.
He uses a machine
...

Well it won't write itself
and that's the problem.
I can't write it, it won't
be written, and that
...

I see a child
whose life is dying of thirst.
I see a child
chasing droplets of water
...

No one eats the cherry pie.
Why?
It is beautiful
there on the counter
...