“Peace, Peace will Come” and “Minor Losses”

In Issue 65 by Steven Deutsch

Image
Photo by Jérôme Prax on Unsplash

Peace, Peace will Come

It is often

easier to write

the landscape

without the pollution

of people.

This hillside

was once

wild with color

Can you

imagine it?

Today, the violets

that took residence

in the shell casings

bloomed—

fashioning

flower pots

from the detritus

of war.

Can you

picture it?

This earth

will not pause

for our passing—

wind witnessing

that last

murder-suicide

with a sigh

of relief.

Minor Losses

I walk past his house

most days.

A pretty Cape

painted sky-blue.

He taught

at the college,

but was devoted

to his lawn.

Over the years

I watched

as he tried every

new remedy

for crabgrass.

I used to joke

that he only need

wait for winter.

We lost three

this month

in our aging

neighborhood.

Each got 200 words

and an unflattering

picture in the daily

no one gets delivered

anymore. Then

a few turns round

the sun for even

their echoes to vanish.

About the Author

Steven Deutsch

Steve Deutsch lives in State College, PA. Some of his recent publications have or will appear in Santa Clara Review, Sangam, Poetica Review, Lothlorien, Muddy River Poetry Review, Silver Birch, Backchannels, Red Weather, The Drabble, Sheila-na-gig, The Rush, Pirene’s Fountain, Evening Street Review, and Schuylkill Valley Journal. He is poetry editor of Centered Magazine. Steve was nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. His Chapbook, “Perhaps You Can,” was published in 2019 by Kelsay Press. His full length book, Persistence of Memory was published in 2020 by Kelsay. Steve’s third book of poetry, Going, Going, Gone, was published in 2021.

Read more work by Steven Deutsch.