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    Wake of the Desert Belle
    Wake of the Desert Belle
    Wake of the Desert Belle
    Ebook195 pages47 minutes

    Wake of the Desert Belle

    By Rod Drought

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    About this ebook

    What an undeniable pleasure it is to travel in the footsteps of this wonderful poet.
    In sharing his sense of place we also share his passion and love amid relentless optimism.
    Crafted with such dignity this work is born of an intuitive insight that brings it home.
    Walking the walk of human endeavour, always sharing, always touching our hearts. Never faulting in displaying a capacity to invoke empathy.
    Rich in emotion, wrapped around the human spirit and all laid bare in the Wake of the Desert Belle.
    It is a journey you will never tire of travelling.
    Alan Halford
    Poet and Writer
    Dublin, Ireland

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRod Drought
    Release dateNov 19, 2016
    ISBN9781370293889
    Wake of the Desert Belle
    Author

    Rod Drought

    Rod Drought spent the first 38 years of life in Westchester County, New York before moving to the warmer climbs of Arizona. He has been published in several literary journals over the years as well local newspapers and magazines. He has produced, written, directed 23 amateur films mostly with friends and relatives. He is also a member of The Lower Crust orchestra a rock/blues band. This is his first collection of poetry.

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      Book preview

      Wake of the Desert Belle - Rod Drought

      About the Author

      INTRODUCTION

      There was a time last year when I considered moving from Arizona. My exodus from the desert was not to be yet many of the poems herein contain the theme of leaving. However my journeys of fatherhood did lead me to being a grandfather. The year began with a full house; daughter, grandson, two dogs with visits from my ex to help out. By July the house was disturbingly quiet.

      I had traveled from a full nest to an empty nest in the blink of an eye.

      We are always sailing to other horizons. Sometimes we sail to uncharted territory. Sometimes we revisit familiar ports. Helping care for my grandson brought back memories of my daughters’ first days on Earth. If you live long enough things do come around again.

      I hope these poems bring you in touch with your departures and arrivals.

      Enjoy the ride. It is all we have.

      I want to thank Debora Lewis for formatting this book and getting it ready for the world to see.

      Special thanks to Alan Halford for the fine write up on the back cover. He is a brilliant poet from Ireland whose book The Memory Bone is a pure joy to read.

      LIFE OF AN ORGANIC TOMATO

      LIFE OF AN ORGANIC TOMATO

      Green, tiny

      Hard as a nut on the backyard vine

      Ordinary, blemished days caused it to expand

      Like a heated bubble from a glassblower’s tube

      Bloating in shape and color

      Until it was time to twist free

      Untamed and heavier than its perfect generic cousins

      Lopsided and ribbed, misshapen scar brown and jagged

      A pimple shaped like a devil’s horn jutted from the top

      Small indentations like the folds of a fat belly creased its side

      More days maturing on my countertop

      It gained density

      Inflating with muscle, meat, juice

      Until it reached the edge of decline

      I carved it that night

      It stubbornly held together

      Juice oozed from the velvet meat

      Warm and thick like reheated stew

      I ate alone

      Dipped it in olive oil and oregano

      Noting its imperfection sweeter,

      Wild, random growth richer,

      Than a faultless life

      Raised in a tethered world

      For Mathew Parker

      Back to Contents

      THE GARDENER

      Children are like paper, he said

      Tending the rich man’s flowers

      "They are born blank

      Our words stick to them,

      Make them who they are"

      I agreed

      His gave his children two languages

      I gave mine just one

      His sweat and toil

      Formed the ink in his words

      Imbedding into the fiber

      Of what they will be

      These pages milled

      From their parents anchored

      By the roots of their ancestors

      Measured like rings of a tree,

      Their lineage a progression

      Of time and intimacy

      Blood lines written

      Absorbed in their pores

      This man who

      Crossed a border,

      Hurdled a barrier

      To fill his pages

      With words of promise

      This man a gardener, a writer

      Crafting words soulful and true

      Nourishing tender saplings

      That stretch for light

      New growth in the vast,

      Varied forest of America

      Back to Contents

      A PARK BENCH

      There is a bench

      With a bronze plate etched

      A man’s name, his life and death

      A sweet someone’s remembrance

      Nothing more

      Nothing less

      There is a woman who walks

      The park’s winding path at sunset

      To quiet her wandering heart

      In her private quest

      Nothing more

      Nothing less

      From a shrub she plucks a rose

      Tucks behind the nameplate

      Of the man she never met

      His life unknown, not unlike her own

      Nothing more,

      Nothing less

      It will touch the hearts

      Of those who come

      To rest upon this bench

      To see a rose and plate entwined

      To wonder who these hearts that bind

      In life and in death

      Nothing more

      Nothing less

      Those that rest

      Seek peace to grasp

      Before it

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