Joe Quinton: 4 Poems

NOVEMBER

Previewing winter
In every early frost
Brown darkness spreads
The earth is tilting
Towards its end

Can we remember
Everything goes around
These signs are not a stop
Just the steps as we go on

all who wander are not lost
                            Tolkien

                        someone rejoices
                            hope enters the heart
                        words to a receptive soul
                            walls shout
                          those with ears hear
                        veils rip apart
                        the sun shines
                        showing not faults but ignorance
                        only fools understand everything
                            nothing vanishes
                            the past lives on
                          every moment of our lives remains

REMEMBRANCE

Memento mori no longer speaks.
Now death is commerce,
A drive-by shooting
Followed by a drive-by viewing.
Dispatching both life and death
With memorial quickness.

It's on the news:
One here, many there.
We listen closely since
It is not death but an event
Someplace else – NIMBY.
We'll give something for the shrine,
But not memento mori,
Please.

untitled

I wear my own wear
I drum my own drum
I dance my own dance
I march my own march
All life is me

Biographical Note: Joe Quinton settled in Chester County after various stops around the United States. He began writing poetry from a desire to make sense of the varied lives he has led in his eight decades. His poetry is both autobiographical and forward looking. Joe is a regular contributor to Creek Road Gang. See also the Author Index for Poetry and Author Index for Prose L-Z to find more of his work.