Category: Duane L. Herrmann

May Poetry Showcase from Duane L. Herrmann

TRUER WORDS

The man stood, stunned,
reading a rare letter
telling him:
“It's better to lie to you
than disappoint
your brothers” (all
younger than you,
just in their 40s).
You, though, I've 
abused, lied to, and
tortured from
time you were a toddler – 
you're used to it,
or should be now.
Truer words
were never written
and signed,
“Mom.”

WHEN SALMON DOESN'T EXPLODE

Each time
salmon doesn't explode
I am relieved.
When it does,
it makes a mess;
and I don't need
another mess
of any kind
by any one or thing:
baby poop in diapers,
cat poop in sandpiles,
were some messes
I had to clean
as a child
and exploding temper,
disorder, chaos
my mother created...
I'm done with all that.

MAGIC BURN TIME

Moonlight still bright
just days past full,
Orion setting west
followed
by faithful dog.
Shadow trees pattern 
snow along my path,
while meadow glitters
far and wide:
Magical enchantment.
Then contrasting fire –
inferno blazes
as flames dance
freely in
uncovered pile,
protected from snow – 
contrasting elements
delight.

PRAIRIE RUINS

Built on hope
and dreams
and other's lies:
bankers, speculators,
others ignorant 
of the plains.
Rain WON'T
“follow the plow,”
and dreams died,
families too – 
homes abandoned
to collapse
with time
and weather
and neglect:
wood rots,
rock walls fall
as wind blows on


THE FUTURE RUNNING

Lusty voices, pounding feet
    are children;
questing minds and nimble
    fingers are at work,
children
    do not merely observe
but interact,
    explore the world
and make their presence
    known.
Their exploration is essential
    to train their minds
to process, integrate
    information
for competency to meet
    life challenges,
we repress them
    at our peril.


Bio: Duane L. Herrmann, an internationally published, award-winning poet and historian, has work featured in print and on-line publications as Midwest Quarterly, Little Balkans Review, Flint Hills Review, Manifest West, Inscape, Orison, Gonzo Press, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, and more, in  fifty-plus anthologies, over one hundred other publications, plus a sci fi novel. A fifth generation Kansan, with branches of his family here before the revolution, and a Native branch even longer, he writes from, these perspectives. His full-length collections of poetry include: Prairies of Possibilities, Ichnographical, Praise the King of Glory, No Known Address, Remnants of a Life, and Family Plowing. His poetry has received the Robert Hayden Poetry Fellowship, inclusion in American Poets of the 1990s, Map of Kansas Literature, Kansas Poets Trail, and others.  This, despite an abusive childhood embellished by dyslexia, ADHD, cyclothymia, an anxiety disorder and now, PTSD.  The father of four and grandfather of seven, he was surprised to find himself on a farm in Kansas and is still trying to make sense of that, but has grown fond of grass waving under wind, trees, and the enchantment of moonlight.

A Fevers of the Mind Poetry Showcase for Duane L. Herrmann

Gasping For Air

Dark hole sucks
me in suddenly,
no warning
and I'm lost
falling, falling, falling.
No bottom, no end,
until time passes
while others stand
condemning
they know not what.
Private agendas
pursued regardless
of consequences
to the future.
The one in pain
gasps, seeing
destruction looming
restrained from stopping.

Automatic "ON"

There is a switch
I cannot find
somewhere
inside of me.

PANIC! PANIC!! PANIC!!!

It sounds alarms
instantly, before
I know it's happened.
Train thunders by
pulling me along.
Far down the way
steam has decreased
and my brain
can think again.
Others say: “Insane,
unreasonable, bizarre,
not fit...” No.
Just mental wiring.

Jumbled Together

Reading, I come
to jumbled letters
on the page.
A word, I think,
but what?
Makes no sense.
I close my eyes,
stop thinking,
let the letters sort
themselves right.
Open my eyes:
there is now a word
and I continue
reading.
Less, this happens
as age becomes
my pain, yet
I remember still


Letters Stand

A mind contesting
with its brain
over what the body
will do – 
or won't.
The daily, hourly,
struggle of one
so graced with dys-
lexia. Letters
on the page don't
stand still, or
stay in order.
Others have no clue.
Child doesn't know
all others aren't the same – 
this, the normal
he only knows.
I know.

Unfoldment

When your grip is slipping
off the rope
and there is no length left
for another knot
to hang on to....
What do you do?
What do you hold on to?
What can you do?
What will hold you up?

Wings

WINGS
will set you free!
WINGS
you didn't know you had.
WINGS
of unknown power.
WINGS
beyond belief.
WINGS to fly!



Bio: Duane L. Herrmann, an internationally published, award-winning poet and historian, has work featured in print and on-line publications as Midwest Quarterly, Little Balkans Review, Flint Hills Review, Manifest West, Inscape, Orison, Gonzo Press, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, and more, in  fifty-plus anthologies, over one hundred other publications, plus a sci fi novel. A fifth generation Kansan, with branches of his family here before the revolution, and a Native branch even longer, he writes from, these perspectives. His full-length collections of poetry include: Prairies of Possibilities, Ichnographical, Praise the King of Glory, No Known Address, Remnants of a Life, and Family Plowing. His poetry has received the Robert Hayden Poetry Fellowship, inclusion in American Poets of the 1990s, Map of Kansas Literature, Kansas Poets Trail, and others.  This, despite an abusive childhood embellished by dyslexia, ADHD, cyclothymia, an anxiety disorder and now, PTSD.  The father of four and grandfather of seven, he was surprised to find himself on a farm in Kansas and is still trying to make sense of that, but has grown fond of grass waving under wind, trees, and the enchantment of moonlight.