William Schmidtkunz

Troubles Enough

Boots terminated!
Jane cries over the phone
baby on her lap

Sunny day compared to yesterday
but the float plane couldn't land
no mail

Dug up the parsnips
thinking I must discipline myself
Want to travel again
but where?

Cards tight to the chest
$10 in the wallet
Driver's license about to expire

Card Players

Wind drives a gull cry
past single pane windows

Claire plays animal rummy
a flush of pheasants in her hand
Tom lays down three dolphins

Apples and currents
the last of the cinnamon
a cobbler goes into the woodstove

In the end all this living
may prove out we were wrong all along
but there were few options in front of us
after we weighed out the risks

Is this the beginning
or are we further along?

Claire draws a unicorn

William Schmidtkunz continues his observations of the human experience as he lives it though his life as husband and father, gardener and beekeeper, carpenter and writer. He has read for the local public radio stations and can be heard on the Charlie Rossiter audio website, Poetry Spoken Here. His latest work, lower case poetry, was published in 2017. Schmidtkunz lives, works and writes from Sutton, Alaska.