I
dried tears
leave salt tracks

shed Rorschach faces

nurture memories
released
from hard service
as prison guards

II
roller coaster hearts
fly so fast

vision blurs
breath catches

without focus
tightened muscles
cannot guide

bodies flung
at every curve

& hearts collide
without design

III
in a field
of dried stalks
of past loves

lies a wicker cornucopia
woven from
the hollow reeds at hand

invisible
until spring

 

—
Herb Kauderer is an associate professor of English at Hilbert College, and has published a lot of poetry. More can be found about him at HerbKauderer.com.

the blues is when you know
you can’t hit half the notes

& the people around you
are gonna look at you
like your skin is purple

but you sing anyways & plenty loud
cause it feels so good
& it ain’t supposed to be pretty

 

—
Herb Kauderer is a retired Teamster who grew up to be an associate professor of English at Hilbert College. His most recent chapbook of poetry The Book of Answers is currently a nominee for the Elgin Award.

I long to write little poems
for the interstitial spaces
of atomic structure

small & unfamiliar places
where I can sculpt words unrecognized
and free from censorship

I’m ready to create a new vocabulary

a language written in orbits
& charms & charges

but the censors are one step
ahead of me again
and the guards

outside the particle accelerator
know my face
& they have orders
to shoot to kill

 

—
Herb Kauderer is a retired Teamster who grew up to be an associate professor of English at Hilbert College. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and has published a lot.