I had not recorded this or mentioned this on my blog, I don’t think. So, I thought now would be a good time to do so. These poems were published in Venus Rising by John Marshall. The poems of mine that were published are as follows: “I wrote a love poem once,” “Not even footprints,” and “In the Dream.” I’ll post those poems below as well.

I wrote a love poem once.

I wrote a love poem
Once… heard it was good –
the love… the love poem.

It was 10 years ago or more
lost -      I lost that             in the fire, as it were,
the love… the love poem.

I forget how it goes         the
love…
the love poem.

I just cannot remember
the words I wrote.
But I know I wrote a love poem,
Once.

- Bruce Whealton 2008
Not Even Footprints

Sometimes it seems that
I’m just writing these words
On the sand,
(Like in that quaint picture,
Called “Footprints in the sand.”)
With the wind in my face…

Is that all there is now?
Words that fade as fast as I write them?
My words as dry as the sand
That blows in my face,
Blinding me.

If only I could get you to look,
Before my words are lost.

In my vision, the sand doesn’t even
Hold any image of my footprints…
As if I’d never come here,
And never written these words.
Or it never mattered what I said,
You would not hear or see.

Bruce Whealton 2007
In the Dream

In the dream
I'm walking along
a familiar wooded path
trees above block out
most of the sunlight.

I come upon a small patch
of pansies
I bend down to look closer

she appears
She reaches out her hand
How strange to touch a ghost!

We walk hand-in-hand
with pansies appearing along the path
like spectators
in a wedding procession.

© 2006 Bruce Whealton, Jr.