Poetry Breakfast

A Loon Calling on South Branch Lake

When I need to hear it most,
I walk down to the dock
in the back of my brain
where calm water waits

and listen, the world grinding
itself on around me,
bobbing for a moment or two
atop the rise and fall
of living.

One hand covers my mug
so nothing spills.

About the Poet:
A member of the Maine Poets Society, Gus Peterson lives and writes alongside the Kennebec River.  Work has appeared recently or is forthcoming in the Aurorean and Northern New England Review, and online at The Lake and Clear Poetry.  A chapbook, When the Poetry’s Gone, was released last year by Encircle Publications.  He is currently working on a full length collection.

Photo by Unsplash.

Poetry Breakfast accepts submissions of poetry and poetry related creative non-fiction year-round.  See our Submission Guidelines page for details on submitting your work.

Start your morning with a nourishing poem.  Follow us on  Twitter, Facebook, and  Tumblr,  and enjoy a new poem every morning straight to your feed.

On Halloween

I put on a mask,
hide myself twice over.

Super heroes pass by,
shoulder to shoulder with
their nemeses,

and the undead lurch
stolidly forward,
ragged under a sickle moon,

to stand in doorways
with the iridescent play
of fairy wings.

A whole legion of enemies
who have,
for one night,
laid down the sword.

Forgotten their hunger.

Imagine what could be
if, like them,

we tricked ourselves
into something sweeter.

About the Poet:
A member of the Maine Poets Society, Gus Peterson lives and writes alongside the Kennebec River.  Work has appeared recently or is forthcoming in the Aurorean and Northern New England Review, and online at The Lake and Clear Poetry.  A chapbook, When the Poetry’s Gone, was released last year by Encircle Publications.  He is currently working on a full length collection.

Photo by Lisa Runnels.

Poetry Breakfast accepts submissions of poetry and poetry related creative non-fiction year-round.  See our Submission Guidelines page for details on submitting your work.

Start your morning with a nourishing poem.  Follow us on  Twitter, Facebook, and  Tumblr,  and enjoy a new poem every morning straight to your feed.