Two Poems

Tara Willoughby

 
 
 

across the water
gently rolling
her reflection slides

 
 

2 Corinthians 3:3

Tamas Dobozy

 
 

Our instructors were Maltese nuns. This was the 1970s, when corporal punishment was still considered an instructional aid. A yank on the ear, a ruler to the hand, a slap across the faceā€”all part of the pedagogical toolbox. Not that anyone used the word pedagogy
back then. We were lucky if the nun in question had graduated from high school.

 
 
 

i salute you.

for your dedicated service,
your loose weathered pages,
& curated collection
of mystery blemishes,
i salute you.

 
 
 
 

The night had begun to descend low. Streaks of cool oranges and arid purples were sent scraping across the sky. The colors draped as a fading contrast to the darkening waves of sand, terraced steppes, and plumes of stone in the surrounding desert. A babbler, readying itself to roost for the night, connected the horizon in its search. In its beak it carried what little it scavenged from the day.