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Best Poems From
DONNA QUESINBERRY
(06/05/1957)
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9.
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Chalk Lines-Edited
Running Mason-Dixon chalk lines
delivered Blue-educated grey
Antietam
Gettysburg
Vicksburg
then Shiloh
delivered grey, educated blue
sputtered folklored guitar ballads
under family headstoned monuments
vacations
flew
North
then South
Accents flared
out-of-towner
badges
of hellos'
goodbye's
the battle restored my soul.
Donna Quesinberry
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10.
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Chalk Lines-Original
Running Mason-Dixon chalk lines
Delivered Blue-Educated Grey.
Antietam to Gettysburg to Vicksburg to Shiloh.
Delivered Grey, Educated Blue.
Sputtered folklored guitar ballads
under family headstones.
Vacations flew
North
then south
Accents flared
like
out-of-town badges.
North:
Mafioso manors-myths
Front porch rocker deaths-then
smells of heavy coal.
Steeled iron crossing bridges-echoes
Off the rivers low below.
`cepting when Pocono rainmakers
forget to stop dancing and the floods came.
Slate Chasimed Mountains
etched left then right;
Zig-Zag's traveled deep in gorges
to buy small Italian plums
at Grandpa's rest-stop.
Bingo night over at Harper's Glen
clutching steamed vinegar
fries, running free with
no reins, nasty boys to hit.
Sidewalk street linings made of
horse tied carriage decors, corner
stepped special stools for little
girl pretend plays. Cemetery tombstoned
photo inserts from some great beyond; waiting for
electronic age special talking buttons. Prizes
strewn about, glass w/tomato juice can inside
next to plastic absolute bottle, Tonka truck and scarf.
Tea party theatres featuring howling
creature marathons; `cepting when
the Owl & the Pussycat allowed us
to enter-accidents happen.
Grablick's ice cream parlor's 51
flavors, then Nardone's Sicilian pies;
Adventure Land musement parklife.
Grandpa and Humpie's village children.
China Porcelain cups w/saucers
behind French doored glass partitions.
Fake-me-out fireplace, fad's intervention,
funny crackling log. Coal bin cellar detectives
becoming bearclawed bathtub bombers-sailors.
Piano playing western movie bells, wearing mink
muffs, fox furs showing buggy eyes. Debutante
crocheted white glove tea marmies beyond space.
South:
Plantation homelands with long
spun driveways, floating greens along
gravel gritted crackling sound bytes.
Sunshine posted at 80 degrees
in balmed dry lost its sea air. Spanish
mossed hemlocks engulfed Brent's
river trailer. Swing rope stretched
out over gatorland, jumped! Caught!
Splashes recovered, luck be a lady grins.
Sandy vistas of quick yard dashes
to navigate bur infestations, only missed
at dead runs. Palm trees gift: slivered trunks,
hiding bugs and slicing hands.
Iced tea manners from poe do creamy cooks.
How ya'll doins, those South
Carooleanyan sensations, hurled twanged rhetoric.
Night deer hunts then gator skin sales,
Just outside Charleston beach pier. Always
two living rooms, no souls in one, `cepting when
someone died or married. Lotsa colored people.
Happy camped smiles. Screened doors,
wrapping porches keeping babies safe.
Red-necked and hicked general stores w/pickup
Trucks-lotsa shotguns. Cruised main every night. One
stop light, one Sheriff. Tastee Freeze
cones licked off the top of car hoods.
Bare-footed casual, salted tanned and
bronze skins, free stylin proprieties of cool.
Home:
Yank and Rebel albums, glass
encased uniform treasures,
oohs and ahs.
After midnight troop food runners Aunts
of aid to warring factions opposed only
for reunion in this puzzle piece placement generation.
Auntie gifts:
John Wilkes Booth's getaway boat
Ulysses S. Grant's nurse.
No one's special fortune telling palmist.
Donna Quesinberry
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11.
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Crafted Artistry and Hewned Woods
~<: >~<: >~<: >~
remembering Amsterdam
he opens the buffet
shuffling Viennese linens.
she'd smiled hardest
in her shortest skirts,
his attention allowed to focus.
lace cloth tucked under elbow,
he gathers a water lily vase
in compliment to her,
and crosses the terrace.
fichus trees cast vestal images
through wooden blinds.
buffing furnishings,
he sets accoutrements
on a formal chair.
butter almond English balm
moves through the rooms
with resilience.
hands steady.
he holds them
in front of his eyes.
his skin,
his veins,
his lean fingers,
manicured spoils of labor.
he sets a cloth aside
to draw water.
washing to elbows,
a bar of lavender soap
he holds close to his nose.
whiffing sensations.
water echoes
as vapors rise.
immersions his temptation.
he turns, checks a burner
and adjusts a dial,
unfolding the lace cloth
sets it on rich wood,
replaces his spectacles.
begins a new chapter.
waits in silence.
remembers she forgot her scarf.
~<: >~<: >~<: >~
Donna Quesinberry
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12.
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Gurgling And Choking His Eyes Reddened And Swollen
the deal of the century
involved a young christian
male delivering a new ride
to a man in a suit without
desire to know or care about
the overnight excursion of a
youthful soul trying to impress
the leige of quasi-corporate
types who sent him to trevail
a snowstorm with ice abounding
free of the wreak of pot lashed
youthful bliss, touting a bible
and engagement ring. he toiled
through the day to the dusk to
the darkness, nearly home
to reunite with an engagee
anxious and abundant as only
a youthful man is for the woman
or girl he professes love to. off
the road over blackened ground
and ice to air of 50 feet landing
in forest, without airbags,
suspending his brain in a torrent
of spin cycling. wrongfully treated
by 'the man.' and left to dry out
brain devoid still conscious in
a frozen land far to the north.
exalt the auto-stave the human.
Donna Quesinberry
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