Economics Lesson

Face it. There is no end,
but the end of the month.

Not enough bread around the sandwiches.
Wallet bacon flat. Too proud for welfare,

Instead we hold family conventions
penny tight around the dinner table,

Spread humor, and pursue a
smile’s interest on faith

With nothing but happiness
to risk on time payments

poem by Val Morehouse
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A View From Orbit

_____For Astronaut Sunita Williams who captured the images

Swirling veils of storm, the sapphire carved
from the black hole of space twinkles

like some never ending carnival
celebrated in a cemetery rife with epitaphs.

Nightfall cuts away along dawn’s edge,
gowning the blue planet in daylight.

Below, the green Nile stretches nimble as a papyrus
reeds dripping moisture into the morning.

There, the Mediterranean grips tight,
cupping just enough sea song for a sailor’s epic.

If each of us could wake to see
earth from orbit, belovéd globe ripe

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poem by Val Morehouse
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Hoop Dance

_____ For Kevin Locke, Hoop Dancer
July,1989

The sun is a painted pony on the
runaway hoop of the sky.

Grounded at last. Golden
As old grass headed out in the heat,

The pale skull of Yellow Hair is balding
on the bosom of the earth.

Hear that squaw sound keening
along the telegraph wires?

“Custer died. STOP. All divisions massacred. STOP.”
Blue seeps into the dawn like cavalry coats.

Drum sound. Pierced with stars
Bright arrows in the coulees.

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poem by Val Morehouse
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Hurricane Watch

Green. Green the leaves,
and waves gray on the forehead of the beach.

As easy as breeze tensing lengths of hair
waves lift, then snap back like springs.
Trees bend and kneel, fling out brown arms
to catch their running children.

Green. Green the leaves, and wind
pours on the forehead of the beach.

See how sand wrinkles in the lee,
and anchors part like lovers
from invisible chains. Ships break
then run their length to freedom.

Green. Green the weeds,
and sea foams on the forehead of the beach.

Women’s names swim to greet the waves.

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poem by Val Morehouse
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