R. Loren Moe - Issue 36

R. Loren Moe is a senior-aged poet who lives in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in South Carolina.  He has been writing poetry for over forty years and writes about personal experiences, insights, and learnings, coupling them with active imagination.  R. Loren feels poems are living entities that grow and take on new viewpoints as one’s experiences change and so are needing continual pruning as we grow . Publishing credits include Animated Blue, Carmina Magazine, Blue Crystal Magazine, Academy of the Heart and Mind Magazine and others.

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FADED YOUTH

You used to smile a lot

When we were both young

Enough to play and run,

In the flowering fields.

Golden rays, golden hair

Golden cord, golden rings.

They are now all the same

In my memory.

The only thing not faded

Is the smile on your face.

We should have counted then

Those few blessings shared,

Lest we forget them

In the passing of years.

Our memories washed

Away as the rains

Came to clean

Away the dew

Covering us when we awoke

Laying in the grass of that meadow.

TESTING OURSELVES

Why do we sometimes stare

into the eyes of oncoming cars?

Is it merely for the thrill of it?

Or are we testing ourselves?

Do we pretend

as they do in stories and on TV

that the good hero darts away

just in time, to save himself

while the evil villain is crushed

beneath the vehicle, blood on his lips?

Do we wait in anticipation

until the last possible moment,

pulling back to understand

which role we play?

CONTAGIOUS

The other day while I was sitting on a park bench

Relaxing,

I heard a voice behind me.

It sort of shrieked a little

And even squeaked a bit

As it let out a laugh.

I had been thinking

Of a joke I had heard

The night before,

And then there came that shriek

So I laughed along.

Pretty soon I heard other voices too.

All of them laughing,

Joking and having a fun time.