THE LADDER

by Kavita Ratna

The ladder

against the wall

leaves 

misshapen 

shadows,

slanted in 

impossible angles.

 

The rungs

of the real and

the surreal

end

in the middle of

a blankness.

 

Rising begins

where 

the climb ends.

Kavita Ratna is a children's rights activist, poet, and a theatre enthusiast. Sea Glass is her collection of poems published by Red River. Her poems have appeared in The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess within, A little book of serendipity, The Wise Owl, Triveni Hakai India, Haiku in Action, the Scarlet Dragonfly, the Cold Moon Journal, Five Fleas Itchy poetry, Stardust Haiku, Leaf (Journal of The Daily Haiku), and Parcham.

NOVEMBER AGAIN

by Juditha Dowd

and I’m doubtful

that no experience goes to waste

if only we’re able to learn from it.

Deer have mangled our deer fence,

that fox is prowling the yard.

Where will we be next year

when these maples shed their gold?

You and I have lived enough

to pretend at wisdom,

take the long view,

but the angles are foreshortened

as our fields turn murky and cold.

Soon the Long Night Moon

and two-faced Janus.

Soon the weeks of ice,

the days of mending.

Juditha Dowd’s most recent book is Audubon’s Sparrow, a verse biography in the voice of Lucy Bakewell Audubon, wife of the naturalist.