An Ode to the SAT Test Writers

Turcotte, J. "desk and pencil." photo. Fhs Poetry 2009. 14/4/09. http://www.fhspoetry2009.blogspot.com/

Test writers
you who weren't loved as children,
make high school students quiver in fear.
The equivalent of planting bamboo chutes
under their nails
and dipping the fresh wounds in Lemon juice.
You mock them
five tiny bubbles to fill in.
One right answer.
Some of us just doodle patterns on the leaves.
Others still try their hardest
on questions designed for them to fail
by you, not loved as children.

Dreams of Gelato Breakfast

Fortenberry, Arden. "Nelson and Arden". Photo. 5/4/09.

Dreams of Gelato Breakfast

In the briskness of morning,
the sun shines
over a cramped square
in Firenze Italia.
The beginning of day,
Sustenance spelled gelato.
the treat, too beautiful to consume
raspberry and pistachio
chocolate and hazelnut colored mounds,
stacked precariously
one on top of another
Threatening to slide away.
wind bullying those mounds.
As we
devour the scoops of crystallized dreams
melting around the cone.
Jealous crowds begin to gather
to buy their own
breakfast of dreams.

Stephansdom

Sonika. "Stephansdome." 5/6/05. Picture. www.Flickr.com. 14/4/09.
http://www.images.google.com/imgres?imgrl=http://flikr.com

Light dances through stained glass
like brightly colored gypsies on a string.
A mixture of dust and incense.
Decay spreads through the edifice.
Ironically here Mythology meets Jesus.
They shake hands briefly and step away.
Soft and Soulful a requiem rises.
Ancient, Gothic thick with mourning
reverberating off stone walls.
Row after row of pews sitting
held aloft on cobble stone floors.
Geometric patterns: triangles, squares
worn down, almost to nothing.
For centuries priests have stood
glinting gold trays of communion wafers in hand.
Waiting to place one Crisp circle
on my tongue.