Ashes On The Water - Tony Gardner

From Jerbourg cliffs the morning sun
       gleams soft across the bay

We gather here at Moulin Huet
       this sad, fulfilling day.

Ashes float and sparkle
       the proud sun picks them out

Affirming this was one of us
       a Guernseyman throughout.

He left his heritage a while
       But came back home to die.

Ashes on the water
       "C'est bien" the wavelets sigh.

Tony Gardner

Dietary Advice - Richard Fleming

The elephant, a hulking brute,
dines principally on greens and fruit.
He does not have a sylphlike figure,
instead keeps growing ever bigger.

The mouse, that tiny reprobate,
eats many times his body weight
yet hardly weighs a thing at all:
indeed, remains petite and small.

So, frugal eaters please take heed,
it doesn’t matter how you feed:
when you come to the feeding-trough
throw caution to the winds and scoff.

Richard Fleming

Terribly Wrong - Kathy Figueroa

What’s the problem with America,
The land of the free, brave, and strong?
What’s happened to America?
Something’s gone terribly wrong.

What befell the country
Where “freedom” is the cry?
Why, in the United States of America
Do so many citizens violently die?

Is it still a leader in the free world?
I’m beginning to think not.
Heartache, suffering, death…
So many people have been shot.

Should we build a wall to enclose
The nation that once was great?
Which now has been damaged
And stained indelibly with hate?

Where it’s a growing trend
For men to be accessorized with a gun?
Where shooters kill indiscriminately
For grudges and just for fun?

What’s the problem with America,
The land of the free, brave, and strong?
What’s happened to America?
Something’s gone terribly wrong….

Kathy Figueroa

"Terribly Wrong" was published on March 1, 2018, in The Bancroft Times newspaper.

Remains Of Love - Ian Duquemin

Was my touch so repulsive, you scrubbed me away?
And my company so cruel, it caused you to stray
Did the structure we build, turn to rubble then sand?
That spills from the palm of your hand

Was my love so destructive? A drug forced to take
The heart you once dwelled in, abandoned to break
Were the feelings you gave me, on loan for a time?
Returned, as they never were mine

Did the tears that I cried put a smile on your face?
The desire we shared now unholy disgrace
Do the memories of something remain in the past?
As shadows of doubt have been cast

I was lost when I found you, and lost once again
As all that I'm left with is sorrow and pain
The coldness I feel is a fate hard to bear
With the knowing you don't even care

Ian Duquemin

Off The Wall - John Carré Buchanan

"Runter von der Mauer"
the order barked to no avail.
Victory atop the Quadriga *
looked down at the multitude.
Water cannon fired, then stopped.
Confused guards stood agog
as gates were thrown asunder.
The stunned crowd
emboldened, found Freedom!
They surged through the gates and danced.
Hands reached high grasping pulling
feet scrabbling, as people climbed
to dance on the wall.
Shouts, cheers, and tears of joy as
revellers wielded hammers and picks
to tear down, to reunite.
Cameras rolled; the world marvelled
as amidst the melee
this symbol of oppression,
where so many lives were lost
was breached by a crowd
of cheering, dancing, Berliners.
One generation on and
barring a line of stone
you'd hardly know it existed,
A nation reunited and
the wall's been well and truly off'd.

John Carré Buchanan

* Chariot and four horse statue located atop the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.