marbles by Jack Henry

marbles on an uneven floor
blue ones, red
big fat shooters
oxblood, turtle, clambroth
dropped, rolling
holding up a wall
at the far end of the earth

dance gray on tattered glass
sit on low chairs in
dimly lit rooms
marbles scatter as cats
drag the dead and dying
across brown faded hard wood
floors

tilt-a-whirl sunrise
breaks my mecca moment
light breaks through branches
of a coral tree out back
i reach for a marble,
ammo for my slingshot
first window drops
and the breeze
feels so fine

footsteps sound against
the grain of my waking
she steps through blended
light trapped from starlings
eyes

she sits on her knees
flips a thick round shooter
to my hand
i smile and take out the door


Jack Henry, California, USA

sun never slows by Jack Henry

i watch the sun climb through
barbed branches filled w/
fat green leaves and
orange trumpet blooms

koi, yellow and white and black,
jump from thick water as tiny
bugs skim across the edge

i am a child in my fears,
waiting for the news to
brighten my day, although
simple words do not seem to sway

metal bars bend as the heat
of my dying litters across
unmarked graves, yet birds
continue to sing and the
sun never slows


Jack Henry, California, USA