3 poems by Michael Shoemaker

Belongingness

When our eyes meet
sheer innocence
magnificence
tenderness
fearless
finds.

When our hands narrow 
the space between canteros, 
warm fingers interlace, 
embrace
bliss.

When our lives entwine
thrilled hearts 
and minds
flourish and fly.  

Note: “canteros” in Spanish can be translated into English to the word “flowerbeds”. 





Let’s Talk of Reality


rhinestone stars
black felt heavens
opal illuminated moon
silver-sequined seashores
only in my dreams
are less real than
parking tickets
dog catchers
treachery 
desperate destruction 
                   and doom
snuffed out
with a thumb
and forefinger
atop the candle tip 
of all existence
by my memory
of your 
simple glowing 
deed of deliberate
kindness
today 







An Alarming Indifference


You call me your enemy,
but you do not know me.

my fears, mistakes, worries and woes
strengths, courage, and resolve. 

You think we lap water from the same moving river
in the same way,
but you are mistaken.

Every winter will fall, 
all piercing winds will bite,
bombs will continue to incinerate
our markets, streets, sanctuaries and sanity
until annihilation’s scythe falls with its last blow.

Your grandchildren and my own will no longer
gather fragrant wildflowers in the fields.
You tell yourself
you have no need to know me.

Our loves are lofted away with the unsettled seeds of spring.
I am waiting as time closes its gates of possibilities. 
Only peace makes us impregnable. 
Seek to know me, forever.

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Michael Shoemaker is a poet, writer and photographer from Magna, Utah where he lives with his wife and son and where he enjoys looking out on the Great Salt Lake every day. He is the author of Rocky Mountain Reflections and Grasshoppers in the Field. His writing has appeared in Blue Lake Review, The High Window, Seashores Haiku Journal, The Penwood Review and in anthologies at Pure Slush and Echoes of the Wild. One of his poems is on the shortlist for The Letter Review Prize for Poetry and in the anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival.