Poetry for a New Year
These poems encapsulate the human experience through varied lenses: the quest for natural beauty and moments of joy in “You Can’t See Stars in Manhattan”; a firm resolution against enduring emotional abuse in “Not This Time”; an introspective realization about love and unmet expectations in “A Gift”; and the overwhelming devastation and loss during a wildfire in “Evacuation.” Each poem reflects a unique blend of personal reflection, emotional resilience, and the profound impact of seemingly small moments or catastrophic events on human life.
YOU CAN’T SEE STARS IN MANHATTAN
I have lived in Manhattan for decades
And for decades, I had to go elsewhere to see night stars.
One summer evening, I needed to see Vega…
I needed to see Vega in a warm dark night sky.
So, I called my friend Roger and we drove to Suffern.
Imagine that, going to Suffern to see stars
In a night sky.
When we arrived, we saw stars in the Lafayette Theater
In a classic movie called “It Happened One Night.”
Then, on Lafayette Avenue we ate at a place
Called Jade Bistro. And we looked in the windows
Of a shop called: Wow! That’s Unusual!
It was unusual for us when we looked up
And saw Vega: Vega in the night sky.
Imagine that! Small sights make big impressions
On city dwellers. We gasped.
And during the ride back to the city
We talked about the movie, the food we ate
And all the stars we saw in Suffern.
~ Marjorie J. Levine, author of “Road Trips” and “Becoming Until”
Not this time
You can be too good for what it is worth
Your worth to yourself gets diminished especially when you are giving, kind, and sensitive
Going back for more of this narcisstic tirade?
Not this time
A Gift
I thought he was a gift that came from above,
A hope for a future filled with joy and love,
He captured what all my dreams were made of,
For a moment in time,
He was all mine!
The hope of closeness that I wanted so much,
Was almost in reach with his gentle soft touch,
He never made a promise or a story untrue,
It was all in my mind, that our friendship grew,
He wasn’t someone that did something wrong,
The emotional connection was simply not strong,
I wanted more than he was willing to give me,
It finally dawned as a clear vision to see,
This thought came to me as though on a dove,
I cannot eat at a table that doesn’t serve love.
~Carol Ostrow, author “Poems From My Pandemic Pen” and “Poetry in Motion with Much Emotion”
Evacuation
Los Angeles Wildfires 0% Contained – January 8, 2025
Morning
Heat becomes visible
as brazen orange flames
dance maniacally
in hurricane speed winds,
like a stoned mosh pit nucleus
stirring the dark California sky.
The proverbial, theoretical question comes to life.
I freeze not knowing how to answer;
what would I take?
My mind grinds
to a halt,
not one object comes to me.
I am stuck tangled only in my Apple devices
and their chargers.
The many spaghetti cords
tie me into cluelessness.
My mind cannot land
in my jewelry box
or on any heirloom
that was my mother’s.
I can only focus on the biblical vastness
that is riotously consuming the neighborhood
where my friend raised his kids.
Sodom and Gemorrah come to mind.
The righteous and the wicked
are losing their cars, pool toys,
junk drawers and shopping lists.
My friend’s backyard
now a wasteland,
has become a pillar of salt,
and the black ashen rubble
will outweigh the amber grains
staining California again.
~Nicole Freezer Rubens, author of “The Long Pause and the Short Breath”
Poetry is back in vogue and through The Three Tomatoes Book Publishing we have the honor of publishing books by four poets—Madlyn Epstein Steinhart, Stephanie Sloane, Nicole Freezer Rubens, and Carol Ostrow. Check out their poetry submissions each month.
