La Gran’Mere Du Chimquiere - Richard Fleming

I have met your kin at Boa Island,
standing like warriors in tall grass,
pitted faces
grey as Ulster

and known a thunderclap of fear
drive down from gut to foot,
rooting me 
in charmed ground.

Gran’mere, yours is island ground
beside the churchyard gate,
a public place,
no place for ambush

yet, as I pass with dogs that cringe
and shy away from nameless harm,
the day seems darker,
far less warm.

Richard Fleming

Moonless Sky - Lyndon Queripel

Circles of light spin through the night
The Moonless sky is falling apart
Could it be the hand of God I see
Coming to capture my sinful heart
Time and space leave no hiding place
So was it the Rapture about to start
Or would I find that it’s all in my mind
Just the dancing illusion of a black art ?

Lyndon Queripel

Borderline - Lyndon Queripel

On the other side of time I stand
It runs like sand through my hand
From the black hole of the soul
Release a word of peace unplanned
To echo through this promised land

It seems we must have come too far
You can’t remember where we are
Our shadows run under the burning Sun
Searching for fragments of trust
In powdered gold and diamond dust

As tears of truth from hollow eyes
Part exchange lies and alibis
With no sweet retreat from the heat
Lock the window and bolt the door
Your clothes don’t fit you anymore

Illusions of hope surround the haze
Your gaze is reflected in a daze
It’s no surprise to recognise
In the mirror of mercy and love
The only one you’re not scared of

Sirens scream like a dream in space
A dark star fallen far from grace
It flashes through the midnight blue
Then disappears without a trace
Another unsolved borderline case.

Lyndon Queripel

Rascally Rasputin - Kathy Figueroa

Rascally Rasputin
Bedded women near and far
Reprobate Rasputin
Was the favourite of the Tsar

Recondite Rasputin
Taught that “Jesus saves”
Rapscallion Rasputin
Led the royals to their graves

The mad monk of Siberia
Influenced the Romanov clan
By presenting himself as something
More powerful than just a man

A huckster, a hoaxster
Not a shaman was Grigori
But he had powers of persuasion
To a tremendous degree

Alas, Tsar Nicholas, The Second
Didn’t show much common sense
His trust was misplaced
With a dire consequence

For his iniquity, Grigori
Rasputin paid a great price
His painful, protracted demise
Wasn’t very nice

Poisoned, shot, beaten
Then, eventually, drowned
Felix Yusupov ensured the monk
Would no longer be around

And, though the royals prayed that
Jesus would save them in the end
It was proved that miracles weren’t
Something on which they could depend

Rascally Rasputin
Bedded women near and far
Reprobate Rasputin
Was the favourite of the Tsar

Recondite Rasputin
Taught that “Jesus saves”
Rapscallion Rasputin
Led the royals to their graves

Kathy Figueroa

Rascally Rasputin was published on October 27, 2016, in The Bancroft Times newspaper.