PSH: Poets of the Week

Bio (auto)

Ulrike Gerbig is a poet from Frankfurt/Germany. She has been writing poetry in English for some years now. Two small collections of her poetry, "Every Woman's Blues" (2004) and "Love in all the right places", both appeared with Lapwing Publications, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Besides writing poetry she works as a teacher and a mediator for intercultural conflict resolution in schools in Germany and all over Europe. Her work can also be found in Open Wide Magazine, Mousion, Dead Drunk Dublin, Unlikely, Aesthetica Magazine, Zygote in my coffee, Strange Road, Electric Acorn, Voices Literary Magazine, Photoaspects, Dublin Quarterly, Poetic Diversity, Out of Order, Poetry Kit Magazine, The Pedestal Magazine, Corner Poetry, Literary Vision Magazine, Black Medinaand in the Anthology "Voices of Israel", 2005.

Poem #1

So now it is here
Washed shaved
And still a wee bit wet
Behind the ears
Friend or foe I ask myself
As we eye each other
Suspiciously across
The debris of last night's party

Travelling at 44

There is no
other way
but to just go
without
parachutes,
safety belts,
travel cancellation insurance
or second thoughts,
for that matter,
because if
one thinks twice,
one remembers
steep falls,
crude crashes,
and how often
one got stuck
in hell without a return ticket.
so pack
all you assembled
over the years
in your survival kit
and, for once,
decide to be
daring
because
real courage
lies in the disregard
of all experience
and the acceptance
of the fact
that you are dead
if you don't move.

Bio

Randy was born in WI, and migrated to Minnesota in 1979, where he still resides in Hopkins. He started writing poems during childhood, but began writing seriously in 1973. From a love of Poe, Frost, and Cummings, his own style of writing was born, and has grown. He lives in Hopkins, MN with Princess, his mama cat, and two of her adult children named Reddy, a loving boy, and Patches, still his baby girl, who have inspired several children's stories. Randy also enjoys singing and acting in his spare time.

Visit Randy on the web:
www.randysnow.us
www.randysnow.net

The following work is Copyright © 2006, and owned by Randy Snow and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.

A SONATA OF THE SEASONS:

AUTUMN:

WITH EACH FALLING LEAF

The season of gathering crops and fruits arrives yearly.
Lawns slowly slip into hibernation,
preparations for the advance of snow, cold, and bitter winds
repeat their annual rituals.

One by one each single foliage
once strong, once thriving, once young,
vibrant and striking suddenly finds it is
slowly weakening; it withers and fades into frailty.

It is sometimes said that
with each leaf that dies and falls from a limb
is invisibly tied to a soul someplace leaving a body;
especially the souls who have known many falls.