! ! No Regrets Journal!!

! ! ! Winter and Words 2014 Issue 11

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! ! No Regrets, a journal of poetry, prose and! ! ! images about the twists and turns in the! ! ! search for love, meaning and community.

! ! ! Clayton Medeiros, Editor, Poet, Photographer, ! ! ! Collage Artist. ! ! ! Neil McKay (Johnny Trash), Webmaster.

! ! ! Submissions are by invitation of the Editor.! ! !! ! !!! ! ! claymedeiros@aol.com ! ! ! ! ! ! Epublishing site with all issues

! ! ! http://issuu.com/claymedeiros/docs

! ! ! Facebook fan page With No Regrets issues, ! ! ! haikus, poems and photographs

! ! ! http://www.facebook.com/NoRegretsJournal

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! ! ! ! Snowfall

! ! ! ! This is the way ! ! ! ! It ought to be ! ! ! ! Snow

! ! ! ! The float and fall! ! ! ! That piles and quiets! ! ! ! The world’s best efforts

! ! ! ! The slow and whorl! ! ! ! That dazzles eyes! ! ! ! For solitude

! ! ! ! The whitest white! ! ! ! That sinks all sins! ! ! ! At least until spring

! ! ! ! This is the way ! ! ! ! It ought to be ! ! ! ! Snow

! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! Snow Shower

! ! ! ! ! Snow speckled! ! ! ! ! Parking lot! ! ! ! ! A gray man! ! ! ! ! Wobbles in! ! ! ! ! Unbuttoned ! ! ! ! ! Perseverance! ! ! ! !

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! ! ! ! ! Blizzard!! ! ! ! ! Headlights cringe! ! ! ! ! Wind wound snow! ! ! ! ! Quietly descends!!! ! ! ! ! Curls over the earth! ! ! ! ! All at once white! ! ! ! !

! ! ! ! Snowy Day

! ! ! ! Dark roofs angled white today! ! ! ! Here and there ink blot crows! ! ! ! Cross the misty bay! ! ! ! Caught in this moment! ! ! ! Just like the rest of us! ! ! ! Wondering what’s next! ! ! ! As snow fall quiets ! ! ! ! Such concerns

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! ! ! ! ! Haikus! ! ! !! ! ! !

! ! ! ! Olympic Mountains ! ! ! ! Etched in shadowed horizon! ! ! ! Fragile winter light

!! ! ! ! Ospreys this morning ! ! ! ! Wings over the bay! ! ! ! White snow everywhere

! ! ! ! Snow geese in the fields! ! ! ! Trees bow to quiet eagles! ! ! ! Winter settles in

! ! ! ! ! Haikus! !

! ! ! Morning sky gray clouds ! ! ! Waves bloom on the windy bay! ! ! Gulls curve in the air

! ! ! Crisp cloudless blue sky ! ! ! Snow sleeps among the shadows! ! ! Quick wings in branches

! ! ! Night time's moony clouds! ! ! Silver and black windblown shapes! ! ! Somewhere snowy owls

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! Books Reading

! ! ! ! In a used book store’s dusty corners! ! ! ! Hard bounds and paper backs! ! ! ! Read to each other in! ! ! ! Crisp mellifluous metaphors ! ! ! ! An iambic pentameter of! ! ! ! Comedies dramas tragedies! ! ! ! Literary essays pontificate! ! ! ! Philosophical treatises mumble! ! ! ! Mathematics posits certainty! ! ! ! About everything worth knowing! ! ! ! The books quietly commiserate

! ! ! !! ! ! !! ! ! ! Said and Unsaid

! ! ! ! Is there something unsaid! ! ! ! We should say now before ! ! ! ! Day’s end and night falls again! ! ! ! Something new something old! ! ! ! A combination of the two! ! ! ! A composer to add music! ! ! ! As the repartee resonates ! ! ! ! Among words we’ve shared! ! ! ! Over the years celebrated! ! ! ! Or simply left alone to! ! ! ! Fulfill or dissipate among! ! ! ! Passing hours and days! ! ! ! Lost in unwritten pages! ! ! ! To express what was lost

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! ! ! ! Past Tense

! ! ! ! Search the present for the past! ! ! ! An etymology of who we are! ! ! ! Perhaps a hint of why! ! ! ! In what was said how! ! ! ! To whom to what end! ! ! ! Those words versus these words! ! ! ! Carefully chosen in the mind! ! ! ! Wantonly thrown into the air! ! ! ! Conversation to conversation! ! ! ! Held with others held in solitude! ! ! ! Perhaps easier before words! ! ! ! When all the time we knew! ! ! ! Was the sun across the sky

! ! ! ! Past Present

! ! ! ! The past carries into the present! ! ! ! Unfinished business of love and loss! ! ! ! Familial quarrels twist and turn! ! ! ! Foolish feints and sleights of heart! ! ! ! Forever elusive forgiveness! ! ! ! Among conditioned expectations! ! ! ! Tart tongues’ regretful words ! ! ! ! Dissuade good intentions moving pawns! ! ! ! On a game board with no squares! ! ! ! Just random kings and queens in search ! ! ! ! Of monarchy clearly marked on a map! ! ! ! Carefully hidden in the fatuous field of play

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! ! ! ! Mortality: An Active Verb

! ! ! ! Words scratch ! ! ! ! Mortality’s ! ! ! ! Surface with! ! ! ! Prose and poems! ! ! ! Soon lost to indifferent time! ! ! ! Among burned books’! ! ! ! Unsavory hidden truths! ! ! ! Our shared inhumanity! ! ! ! Crushes heretical insights! ! ! ! That could undermine! ! ! ! Privileged mandates! ! ! ! From Calvin’s God! ! ! ! From Hindu castes! ! ! ! Monarchical utterances! ! ! ! As if they could save the day! ! ! !! ! ! ! Nothing saves the day! ! ! ! Carpe Diem

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! ! ! ! Certainty

! ! ! ! In an existential certitude! ! ! ! Despair doesn’t sustain us! ! ! ! In some corner joy fails! ! ! ! To accept dire predictions! ! ! ! Marred misdemeanors! ! ! ! Strewn across efforts! ! ! ! To figure out maturity! ! ! ! Where it might be found! ! ! ! What it’s supposed to be ! ! ! ! Indispensably direct unlike! ! ! ! Traffic signals so often! ! ! ! Ignored by crowded cars! ! ! ! In dense city centers ! ! ! ! Everyone busily on ! ! ! ! Their way to something! ! ! ! Desperately important