By Richard LeDue The voices from my youth,which I believed would never change,nor sink in the silence deeper than words one calls a poem,are gone now, dispelled like doubtthat keeps a person from saying wordsbeyond a polite hello,and the cricket songs from past summer nightsmake poor metaphors for timelessness,even if eight hours of sleep finds … Continue reading Silence Deeper Than Words
1981 And Other Poems
By Richard LeDue 1981 Always thought I was a Gen Xer, but I'm actually a Millennial, meaning I'm no different except on a graph somewhere that might as well be faces on Mars photoshopped into rocks, or was it the rocks that did a person impression? It doesn't change the interest rate on my credit … Continue reading 1981 And Other Poems
Wasted Cut Out Flowers and Other Poems
By Richard LeDue Wasted Cut Out Flowers Lucky to have a blank page again, staring at me with more affection than the lovers who don't know they're lovers, who only wake up naked in their dreams, who usually let the silence buy their drinks, who reminisce about paper airplanes crash landing, only to give flight … Continue reading Wasted Cut Out Flowers and Other Poems
Thoughts About Another Winter Bundled Up in Poetry
By Richard LeDue I November snow feeling colder than fresh hell, and the same tracks walked in so much that they don't even look human anymore, while the weather forecast is prerecorded and replayed on the hour for those who still own radios. II New Year's Day hangovers far enough away that a lone leftover … Continue reading Thoughts About Another Winter Bundled Up in Poetry
The Nameless Dead and Other Poems
By Richard LeDue The Nameless Dead Adam and Eve's infinite cousins (endlessly removed), and they eat apples too or don't, but few believe the worms lost for turning an apple tree into a wrong turn, probably because the ground tastes like Sunday school lessons in a church basement, or the swallowed griefs at a funeral, … Continue reading The Nameless Dead and Other Poems
Tap Water Poems
By Richard LeDue I. Learned too late in life how we aren't supposed to fill pots with hot tap water before we boil them, but my younger self believed in this time saving brilliance, before accepting sometimes being cold healthier. II. Smiles among dishwater bubbles seem to tell lies about everything being alright, while 1970's … Continue reading Tap Water Poems
Emptied of Desire and Other Poems
By Richard LeDue Emptied of Desire The dark circles under my eyes are hallow, the pillow a sponge for my sweat, blankets too easily pulled away in the middle of the night, and the dream journal from my youth full of crooked words, describing eyelids that dared to take shape among the space between stars, … Continue reading Emptied of Desire and Other Poems
Early Winters are the Worst and Other Poems
By Richard LeDue Early Winters are the Worst The pond where they swam away summer nights, naked and laughing at the heat, is now covered with ice, like cold eyes drowning tears, and the promise of spring just another lie they tell themselves, so they can forgive how smiles betray glances out windows or cursing … Continue reading Early Winters are the Worst and Other Poems
Four Poems About Turning 40
By Richard LeDue I. We believe we're safe, sealed away behind walls, white as snow because we were told to repaint every five years, while memories of artificial trees (always green), appear immutable, but just long enough to fool us, like the angel on top until the lights burned out, and our eyes have become … Continue reading Four Poems About Turning 40
Fives Ways to Ruin Bacon
By Richard LeDue I I was love starved, hungry for a touch without realizing at first that my hands can also burn bacon and still expect you to eat it. II These days, they say pigs are too smart to eat, yet that doesn't stop the grocery stores from selling bacon at half price to … Continue reading Fives Ways to Ruin Bacon
Academy of the Heart And Mind 