A Revolution: Poetry Collection
Award Winner
Revolution
Gage Ahearn
(Can be read down each column or horizontally across both)
A ragged, torn doublet A brown dress with memories of being white
He moves the clumps of straw in his hand She counts numbers endlessly in her mind
He was a king She was a queen
Unfair and unkind Ungenerous and unforgiving
Sitting on a floor of cracked stone tile Leaning on a wall of rock and cement
Sunlight glimmers in from a lonely window The darkness spills out from a lonely cell
Coughs and sneezes break the silence Gentle sobs from a far corridor
The home they once shared The home they once lost
Cheers cry out from the outside A happiness they can’t have
A happiness they once had Never will have it again
In the cold, he sleeps In the cold, she sleeps
Unfrequently, they eat They had never faced hunger
They had everything They lost everything
They wanted more They now have nothing
The rain seeps in on a cold day A flood so cold it burned
He was her king She was his queen
He ruled half the world She ruled half the world
Now they ruled nothing Now they ruled nothing
Except his sorrowful thoughts Except her bitter thoughts
How far he has fallen How far she has fallen
A victim of his world A victim of their world
In a cage made from their own selfishness In a cage made from their own selfishness
Here and forever Here and forever
He is alone She is alone
Earth
Gage Ahearn
(1-10-10-1 syllables)
Sky
Brown Trees
Hundred Leaves
Shiny and green
See the dirt below
Under the sharp bushes
Covered in animal tracks
Pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and humans
All call the shade beneath them their own
Deep in the forest is their lovely home
Down underneath the roots, trees, and the soil
There lies nothing but stone, cold and dark
No sunlight, no life, and no joy
Not a place for one to go
There lies isolation
One will be alone
But do not fret
Down further
The light
Core
Fortune
Gage Ahearn
Ca-Ching Ca-Ching Ca-Ching
They sit at the tables, taking their turns as the clock ticks
Tick-tock
The slot machine sounds the sound of a spacecraft, lifting up from off the ground
Ding Ding Ding
The change clashes down hard from the machines
The crushed cries of a confused man carry crude, coarse cacophony
The distressed dealers diffuse the disturbance of the daunted man
Gone Gone Gone
Chips flip as the dealer is tipped
The low payers play longer, and the high payers leave faster
The little better bides his time, lingering around, the lowest better of the better betters
The pockets empty, the prized money piles into the pool
Do the sad, somber eyes of the unsuccessful discourage thee, or invite thee
Glue
Gage Ahearn
A puppet
On the stage a beauty
Behind the stage broken
A master
A bottle of glue
A can of paint
Polish nowhere
On the surface
The perfect fix
A panacea
Down beneath
An evil medicine
A resurrection
A perfect puppet
A river of gold
An island out of reach
The stranded puppet sits
A greedy master floats in the river
Swimming to the sea
The glue keeps it together
Only for a time
The glue dries
White hairs left behind
The sliding of the pieces increases
The puppet breaks
The master glues it together again
The master drags the puppet
Show to show
And glues it
And glues it
And glues it
Until the puppet takes the stage with a smile
Perennially Verdant
Gage Ahearn
(Tanka: 5-7-5-7-7 syllables)
A walk through the hills
The sun and moon share the sky
Fields guide our travels
The sun falls below the Earth
And it leaves the moon behind
