An Ebony Reality
by James G Piatt

The oaken stile, entrance
Into a rock-strewn meadow,
Leads to
Pine and Oak trees
With leaves of ecru spikes,
Laden with
Thorns that bleed into
The rocky memories
Of my
Mind.

Songbirds
Singing like golden harps,
Split the reality
Within my tightly woven mind,
Into hopeful dreams, and
Harkin metamorphic memories,
And tinted thoughts, which
Like rough chiseled visions,
Lighten my ebony reality.

Dr. Piatt earned his B.S. and M.A. from California State Polytechnic
University, and his doctorate from Brigham Young University. He is a retired professor. Two of his relatives, John James Piatt and Sarah
Morgan Bryan Piatt, were prolific poets who wrote their poetry in the
mid eighteen hundreds. Their poetry has inspired his poems.

James was the featured poet in Word Catalyst Magazine in 2009, and Contemporary American Voices in 2010. Long Story Short selected one of his poems for the poem of the month in 2011; Phati’tude Literary Magazine in their spring 2011 issue featured an interview with him. He has had over 200 poems, published in over four dozen magazines during the past two years. His book of poetry, Poetry from a Silent Pond, is forthcoming in July.