Here is the latest installment of Poet’s Corner, presented by the Edmonds-based EPIC Poetry Group.

Longing For More Than Lip Service
a rondine

When the world, so lightly, loves all
with a fervor flowing deeply
enough mere breath brings peace freely;
When life’s necessities need call
not high, not shrill, nor gallingly,
but once or twice, thrumming sweetly—
When the world,
with solid hope, blossoms tall;
thaws ancient cruelty steadily;
love’s stems grown so robustly
that no one questions love—that’s all
then our world.

Lylium Walsh

~ ~ ~ ~

Finish Strong
a sonnet

“Finish strong” I whisper to myself.
Finish strong, like my friends who run,
or when I’ve volunteered to clear blackberries,
group house projects, communal building goals.

To finish at all is to finish strong.
To do it, no matter how agonizing or languid.
The easy ones are the ones that trip me.
They feel so simple, overblown busy work—

Until I’ve overreached and am drowning.
Difficulty feels like a riptide. I’m
splashing in the shallows, a half step from the current.
“Finish strong,” I whisper. Keep my head above water.

I feel myself floundering, swimming but inelegant.
On the beach again, alive, yet another poem written.

 Lylium Walsh

~ ~ ~ ~

Rondeau Around the Yard

Roughly round, in helixed hops,
the bees busily visit flower tops.
Perched on high, songbird guano

softly sings alive the oregano.
Don’t worry, they’re sanitary plops.

Safe enough to not kill snowdrops,
nor to poison any of the crops,
even if they make the vino
roughly round.

Count them now, on the rooftop,
Trilling proud and long, little fops.
Little silence here, a mini inferno
of pretty voices, notes as minnows,
until the local hungry cat stops
roughly round.

Lylium Walsh

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lylium Walsh is a poet, storyteller and science fiction author based in Edmonds. Her piece A Lone Blade recently placed second in Poetry for EPIC Group Writers’ 2021 writing contest. More of her work and schedule of events can be found at lyliumwalsh.com. She currently leads Writing Rainbow, a twice-monthly meet up for  LGBTQIA+ writers, generously supported by Under the Rainbow Storytelling, Edmonds NAC, Snohomish County LGBTQI, the Edmonds Library, Seattle Storytellers Guild, and the Pride Foundation.