Two Poems by Samuel Strathman

Rover

After the film “Between Worlds” (2018).

When they choke me,

it’s not about sex

but so I can traverse

various destinations, 

free to roam.

In hospitals, numerous patients 

are resuscitated

but it’s piecemeal compared

to highway rescue missions, 

mobile homes pried open 

by the jaws

of life – 

clown school’s most wanted

tumbling out – 

a world of trauma

shaping me, addicted

to the thrill

of encountering ciphers

everywhere but home.

**

Wild Unknown

During a blizzard whiteout,

it doesn’t matter

whether the blinders

are on or off,

the moon is a hidden beacon.

Beg for oil streaked plains.

In the murk,

objects become clearer

or diminish upon approach.

Fear and uncertainty

are what remains,

whiteness obscuring

friend from wizard,

wizard from promontory –

mind the gap.

Heart attack walks

into a bar, stands next

to the wild unknown – 

saving grace.

______

Samuel Strathman is a poet, author, educator, and co-founder/editor-in-chief of Floodlight Poetry.  Some of his poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Briefly Write, Poetry Life & Times, and The Daily Drunk.  His debut chapbook, “In Flocks of Three to Five” was published by Anstruther Press (2020).  His second chapbook, “The Incubus” will be in print this fall (Roaring Junior Press, 2020).