Revelatory

Sheets of lightning vault across 
A leaden sky on the dome rain 
Thunders down under the terrible 
Eye of the Pantocrator the huddled 
Faithful trampled underneath the crypt 
Remains sealed no one asks why. 

A Poem Should Be (5)

If not wholly transparent, clearly 
Willing to show how 

Much is hidden.

Calico Cat with Southern Exposure

Nothing fishy about this one, 
Asleep and curled 
Up like a furry worm 
In the warm winter 
Sunlight outside 
The fishmonger’s open door. 

Even one with a fuzzy poetic 
Imagination can guess that 
She’s dreaming of nothing fancy— 
Fish heads, bones, a special place 
In the sun, nothing more. 

World-weary One

When I say 
The sound of words is mesmerizing, 
Would you come to 

Hear me count to three, 
Snap my fingers, 
Make the blather go away? 

Exhibitionists on Display at Annual Mount Parnassus Poetry Competition

“Poetry is a revelation in words by means of the words.” 
—Wallace Stevens 


MC: (through a bullhorn, bucolically) 

All right, you noble riders of the purple page, kindly listen up— 
Would the next round of supplicants willing and able 
To step out of line and sacrifice everything 
Save their skins please come forward and begin

Jockeying for positions to reveal themselves?