NEW! Poems by John Randolph Carter

John Randolph Carter

Two poems

FRIENDS RELEASE DRIED BALLOONS

The streets are quiet.
The wind is indifferent.
Sailors home on leave
wait for their ice cream to melt.

It's hot.
But not too hot for a parade.
Not a big parade---
two two-year-olds and a
black dog and a nanny.

Submarines patrol the bay,
periscopes protruding provocatively.
It's their job.

On shore the sailors wander
aimlessly through Chinatown,
then head up the hill to
Black Hawk Street.
It's comforting to know
that someone is waiting for
them at home. Someone in a pink
nightgown. Someone drinking hot
milk and reading the sports section.


THERE'S MORE HERE THAN MEETS THE EYE

I
Samurai on horseback.
They ride hard through the valley
and up the hill, then pause on
the ridge and gaze down upon the
village they have come to defend.

II
Soldiers with spears appear
at the door. They're hungry.
We give them bread pudding and
they wander away into the gloom.

III
A racehorse stands in a
field of green grass. Alone.
No saddle or bridle. No rider
or trainer. Not even a fence
to suggest limits.

IV
I stand in the driveway and
watch the car pull away.
I have three oranges.
I'm trying to learn how to juggle,
but I keep dropping them.
Maybe it will rain tonight.
At the dance I will not
tell my girlfriend that my
life has just come to an end.