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Christmas Morning
RaynRoberts is found in print and online at Rattle, Rattapallax, Retort Magazine, The Sow's Ear Review, Voices in Wartime, PoetsWest, Thunder Sandwich, The Pedestal Magazine, Void Magazine, Poet's Corner in Fieralingue and many others. He appears in four anthologies. In 2006, Evolving Editions Press in New York included him in its "Illuminations" series. His newest book, “Of One and Many Worlds,” from Poetic Matrix Press came out in August 2006. In 2003 he published "Jazz Cocktails & Soapbox Songs". He is the author of “The Fires of Spring”, a collection of Buddhist poems written in South Korea where he teaches English to university students. Visit his web site.
By RaynRoberts
There was a sidewalk troubadour, twelve-string in hand, He said,
"Come hear me warm up my guitar, man ..."
A vagabond in tattered rainbow poncho was pushing a shopping cart,
a cart decorated with snowman, reindeer, garland and a sign that read,
"Happy Xmas, I'm homeless, please help."
A red, white and blue striped wolf, visible only to me,
Moved him down the sidewalk nipping at his heels.
A group grovin' to a jazz trumpet and drum said,
"That guy's a taco short of a combination plate!
Their laugher rose to the sky ...
The full moon floated in the sky like an empty plate.
I wanted to walk into the desert
Find the place where heaven split apart and fell to earth ...
I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me, but
The troubadour sang a Christmas song of three ships in a harbor
On Christmas day in the morning, he sang,
"And all the bells on earth did ring on Christmas day in the morning."
An angel, audible only to me, sang into my ear,
"And who will ring the bells for the poor on Christmas day in the morning?
The singer sang on, he was warming up, he sang for me, he sang for the bum,
Christmas morning, Monday night, December 15th.
Published December 2005
(originally published in "Jazz Cocktails and Soapbox Songs," 2003)
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