Volume 3, No. 1
I know we've been away for a while, but I promise we have several great pieces lined up for your Holiday enjoyment... including these three beautiful poems by Dr. Wilson F. Engel, III.
Deceptive Cadence
by Dr. Wilson F. Engel, III
Symphony of celestial light and sound The sand hill cranes wading swelling king tide Fallen earth harbors squidgy swampy ground Where once fish leapt sparkling as they elide. The twilight mingles shadows with the shades As we bemoan our worries on the pier Small matters blown like reeds of everglades Beckoning ghosts and cold thoughts of the bier. Why so sad as the heavens open wide? So young you seem against the Pleiades. I am the aged one whose numbers slide Towards the yawning void of grim Hades. Once I ruled unwisely with scepter crude, Unruly seas I sought by sway to quiet. You witnessed that folly and wept and smiled. Ignoble spells failed to quell the riot. So hubris always falls by sleight beguiled. Shut the window and draw the heavy drape. Think not reverses time can overturn. We made our mortal measures to escape In vain as wretched creatures born to burn. To rise above the sea that lays us low, Take now my hand and match me as I go. Your weeping beggars what we’ve done below In heat and now we change from fast to slow And as we soar, let’s revel in the glow Of our sonic memorial echo.
Pale Dawn Rising
by Dr. Wilson F. Engel, III
Haze screens distant hills
evergreen out vista high
as pale dawn rises.
Pearl white petal crown
tipped gold shower life confirms
brief affirmation.
Dawn silhouette bay
haze masking surf lines seaward
gold sun trail blinds us.
Seven bright brown eyes
your smile in sunshine flowers
why then do you hide?
Ghost mist’s river edge
sentinel evergreens stand
our night’s cold divide.
Three peaked snow creamed heights
below melt and meadow green
sky cold lake water.
Woods with Crown Shyness
by Dr. Wilson F. Engel, III
Woods with crown shyness sunshine streams gold in filters winter afternoon. Speckled lantern flies swarm in widow’s walks and some writhe in dark cobwebs. Tiger swallowtail imbibes sprinkler water cold wings pulsing, refreshed. Half-mile strolling path white dog, black mastiff on leads their owners struggling. Songs of migrant geese garrulous or querulous, fattening to soar. Lithe and languid she slips outside to fetch her mail in snowy shadows.
About the Author
Dr. Wilson F. Engel, III, who resides in Ohio, USA, is a Distinguished Member of the International Society of Poets and Noble House Poet Fellow in the UK, and a Best American Poet for the last thirteen years. A member of Master Bards, Dr. Engel’s poems have won a Second Place Award (2024), a National Library of Poetry Third Place Medal (2023), a Fifth Place (2014) and many Honorable Mentions (2018-2022) in international amateur poetry competitions.
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