By Doug J. Lanzo
A Haunting Voice
Her face was clad in blue and yellow, with kobza played quite musically, her voice rang out across the courtyard, to tender ears of school-age children, all gathered round attentively, piercing their souls with haunting refrain: “All we are is dust in the wind…” It echoed through the streets of Kiev, past golden domes and cathedral spires, over chain bridge, crossing river tides, past peaceful pasture and fertile steppes, through pine forests nestled in mountains, flowing down streams of ice-crowned peaks, melting with snow into what could be... fading memories.
A Moonlit Peace
Shrouding my grief soothing my heart still moonlight fell as clouds did part; A beam of light shone through dark gray on cobblestone paving the way; To a quaint church with candles lit in each window with panes moonlit; A door opened to kind, old eyes that welcomed me without surprise; What pain I bore he did not know but ushered me to a warm glow; Where I bowed down beside a crèche filled with soft hay tender and fresh; Inside a child with eyes asleep shepherds gathered from watching sheep; A peace did still my troubled heart as moonlight waned I did depart.
Her Cry Will Be Avenged
She cries out to the Lord from cellar every night for safety from the shells that cause her massive fright; Her purity of heart a widow in distress is heard by God above determined to redress: the evils of this war, the brutal acts of troops, the shelling of her home, the lawlessness of groups, who terrorize her kids in shelters marked to save their innocence from death, their precious lives from graves; Although the course of war is too hard to predict the sovereign Lord is sure to render His verdict, condemning wanton acts of malice mixed with spite, avenging the lives lost defending what is right; The foolish sow their fate in plundering the weak destroying lives and things with havoc that they wreak, their names will never grace the sacred Book of Life their futures cursed to be ones of torment and strife, when God brings reckoning in this and afterlife.
A Fish Tale, but True
With seasoned guide on board as salty as the sea, we took his fishing charter to a channel off the Key surrounded by mangroves in isles to our lee. My son and I took poles baited with lure and fish and cast them into waters primed and ready for a dish, to be brought to marina and grilled or fried per our wish. Pan-fried visions lit our eyes as we plied the open seas, my line oft stripped of bait by fish with playful tease, until Alex reeled one in - landing leatherback with ease. Peppering the channel, our guide tossed fresh-killed bait, telling us our big catch could arrive without a wait if we cast our lines toward them and pulled back with all our weight. Obliging the Captain, I cast in minnows’ wake soon feeling a strong pull thinking this, my big break; I reeled in, then gave it line, by the book without mistake. Suddenly my guide did shout, “Reel in faster! There’s a shark!” So I reeled with all my might quite alarmed by his remark, but more by the brown shadow now emerging from the dark. Without warning a huge shape leapt straight up into the air, flashing rows of steely teeth with raw, terrifying flair, both eyes bulging from my head I pulled as hard as I dared. Dripping blood into our boat the grouper swung within having escaped from shark’s jaws by a margin razor-thin that had sheared it in half ripping off its tailfin. “That was a bull shark 10 feet long!” cried the Captain, still in shock. “The closest I have been to shark jaws that did lock besides my modest boat, whose waves it did rock!” And so we lived to tell this fish tale that is true, of a bull shark breaching the ocean waters blue, mere feet from each member of our dumbfounded crew.
Rafa’s Epic Battle
Leading Rafa two sets to love despite no fan base from above, Medvedev was poised to win his first Australian Mens’ Open, for back–to-back Grand Slam crowns, a tennis feat of great renown. But the master of hard courts faced a legend of the sport, one resilient beyond words, who raised his level upwards… higher and higher soaring past those who doubted he could last given last year’s injuries from a chronic foot disease that sidelined him for half a year, causing him to disappear from all ATP events, his career caught in suspense. Even the announcers said his title dreams were now dead with no chance to be acclaimed all-timer leader to his name; but they knew not Rafa’s heart filled with desire and stalwart, pushing him past all they knew, understood or could construe. Rafa battled for five sets to win or lose without regrets at the age of thirty-five with mental fortitude and drive, using power, then finesse, so his rival could not guess, where the next shot would appear, drop-shot at net or to his rear. Playing each point as if the last with spinning forehands unsurpassed, Rafa stunned the world today prevailing with relentless play, adored by fans for giving all, not giving up, and standing tall, earning Grand Slam twenty-one Rafa surpassed everyone.
An award-winning and featured American poet and novelist whose debut novel is scheduled for publication later this year, 218 of Doug’s formal, free verse, haiku, senryu and tanka poetry have found homes since 2020 in 47 literary journals and poetry anthologies across the U.S., Canada, England, Wales, Austria, India, Australia, Japan, Mauritius and The Caribbean. His Author’s Website (with novel for pre-order and poems, including by his twin sons) is located at https://douglaslanzo.com.
Academy of the Heart And Mind 