Monthly Archives: December 2015

the shaman sees the Dread Unless by Wayne-Daniel Berard

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 didn't need them this time
 White Bear Eagle Sea Turtle
 Ivory Dove
 just directly to the motel room
 himself  sitting at the foot of the bed
 finished and finished and
 entirely seized
 (Merlin and Morgana)
 and you standing to the right
 behind him in
 your black bra and slip
 never looking so lost
 possessed
 by all that losing
    he snapped to
    like a slap
    a mystic
    rear end collision
 lost your number
 and has passed
 you by every day since
 his dearest friend
 quizzical hurt saved

---

Wayne-Daniel Berard, an adoptee who found and embraced his 
Jewishness, teaches English and Humanities at Nichols College, 
Dudley, MA. He is an interfaith clergy person, and co-founding 
editor of Soul-Lit, an online journal of spiritual poetry. He 
lives in Mansfield, MA with his wife, The Lovely Christine.

Rest Stop by Allyson Whipple

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~For Harrison Porobil

You’ve survived worse odds
than this: childhood,
hurricanes, homelessness.
This time it’s just a broken
lock that has you stuck
here, taking stock
of misfortune. What a way
to spend Christmas
morning, trapped on I-10.
Gas station toilet a stinking
pen. But no matter
how you turn and pull
and push until your muscles
burn you’re stuck with stale
air and stink and more time
than you’d like to think
about the turning of the year.

There’s sweat upon your brow
from fighting with the force
that holds you in. As it’s always been:
you’re a man of motion. Kick
the door open, get in the car.

—

Allyson Whipple has an M.A. in English and a black belt in Kung Fu. She is currently studying poetry through the UT-El Paso Online MFA Program. Allyson serves as co-editor of the Texas Poetry Calendar, and is the author of the chapbook We’re Smaller Than We Think We Are. She teaches at Austin Community College.

Texas Poetry Calendar 2016