CHANCE ENCOUNTER

by Robert M. Chute

Found at the annual library sale, stained but
solid and readable, a New Directions Paperbook:
The Collected Poems Of Wilfred Owen for
twenty-five cents. Chance may lead you to the light.

The book discovered on a cluttered table
like some long buried, corroded, unexploded
World War I artillery shell French farmers still
turn up by chance — bones long leached away.

Varying brown stains, mostly on the cover and
edge of pages (coffee we assume), made
random illumination fitting for his last-minute
mis-chance death, that particular bullet

not seeking him in particular as the war wound down.
“Nothing personal,” Death said: November, 4, 1918.


Robert M. Chute's first poem for TheNewVerse.News was posted on August 6, 2008. Chute's book of poetry based on scientific articles, Reading Nature, is available from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. 

GOOD NEWS

by Robert M. Chute

Source: Davos 15 - Agenda - World Economic Forum

Good news — bright motes afloat in the dark
stream of evening commentary. Bite bits about
those few who work dead water eddies, weedy
margins, bring relief to the poorest, the least.
They only ask that they may give, carry water
in a sieve and yet will shame use daily.

If you're waiting for The Coming you're too late.
That event is not unique but continuous,
goodness divided as were loaves and fishes.
These crumbly bits are all that we will get.


Robert M. Chute's book of poetry based on scientific articles, Reading Nature, is available from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.