National Poetry Month 2021

Nick Graves

Cath Mason

Elsewhere

Two alligators carve a V-shaped groove in Pebble Lake. Ducks dive for balls of bread. Four eyes rest on the surface, watchful. Nightfall, marsh rabbits hunch immobile under hedgerow. Two bobcats cruise the grass in front of Countryside library. Camouflaged, they stalk the park, snatch rats from trash. Across Tampa Bay, crowds chant I can’t breathe. A Mobil gas station blazes, glass doors break, a rain of rubber bullets and fireworks.

Gulls circle, crows caw
Dawn horizon a blood blaze
Two brown limpkins scream

Ceci LaDuca

The Sailor

The sailor returns
bronzed and weary
to his landlubbers,
the taste of salt
still on his lips,
the look of freedom
still in his eyes.

Wood Song

Midway through
the canoe trip on a
narrow, leaf-lined river
I hear it—
wind in the treetops
sighing through the supple
green of early spring.
I pull up the paddles and
sit still, hushed, as
wild soul-song moves
through the woods.

Peter Terzian

YOU AND ME

We all just wanna have fun,
Together or apart, in our hearts.
Don’t cry. Don’t be angry.
Accept your fate. Embrace your hate.
All it really needs is a hug.
No one is lonely when they can see,
We’re all in this place together,
You and me.

This is you. This is me.
When we can see each other,
We can be free,
When we see,
You and me.

MY WILL

I’d had my fill after my skiing spill,
So I decided I’d better write my will.

Not satisfied yet?  Not sure you can wait a week for more poetry?  Then you should probably click here to find out what’s going on locally and elsewhere in the country.–Editor

Nick Graves has been an OLLI member for seven years. He has taken classes in literature, science, history, sociology, creative writing, poetry, music, politics, technology and lifestyles.

Cath Mason’s poems are forthcoming, or have appeared in Palm Prints, Literary Mama, Woman’s Weekly, Pennine Ink and Sandhill Review. Her poem “Dent in the Day” won an honorable mention USF’s Poetry Competition 2015. Her poem “The Out of Body Experience of a Potato” won the humor prize in the 2012 Southport Writers’ Circle International Poetry Competition.

Ceci LaDuca is a Tampa native, military brat and USF English grad, having worked in the USF Career Center for 23 years in various capacities. An OLLI regular since retiring in 2013, Ceci has taken several classes, including Spanish, Blogging, Physics, the Great Books series, and the Great Decisions Foreign Policy class.  She loves nature, blogging, walking, reading, gardening and retirement!

Peter Terzian, a school media and technology teacher since 1980, started brewing about four years ago as a hobby.  Now retired, he also enjoys volunteering for arts, media, and technology projects. He contributes poetry and stories to OLLI Connects and does creative media work for the OLLI Marketing Group.