Brad Wagner

Benched

20 point lead
I can go in
A foul      a coach's scream
A free throw
17 more points
     I can go in
Fast breaks      illegal screens
Jump shots      quarter ends
Our Ball    no defense    Alley oop
Press      turnovers
Halftime     pep talk
Bigger lead needed now
I could go in
Third quarter comes & goes

Game ends
        Another day..

Sandburg like Poem by Brad Wagner

Born of the railroads
Fueled by the oil wells
Bagels abounding
Baseball sponsoring

Quietly rumbling in the plains
In the bosom of Coles
Community within a community
Touting the green wave
Lamenting the Trojans

Holding what is their own
This place I call home

War

I wake to the smell of baking sand
Breakfast comes in a bag
The sun breaks the horizon
As we stand in attentive disorder
Go here, Go there
Do this, do that
We all fall out
The days all blend together
Like a long bad dream
The haze of death
Comes in and goes out
Like the tide.

Don’t edit my poem
Words born on my brain
I’ve placed them in this order
Too make them seem sane
Resist! Randy resist!

Eight lanes of traffic
Am I in the one I need to be in?
Was it 294 toll way
Or 94 toll road
God, am I lost?

Balls being tossed
Bats on the swing
The sun’s brilliant shadows
Stretch across the field
Play ball

Youth marches on
Across the field of life
The fog of adversity
Affects them not
The elderly fade to the side

Temptation is her name
Music her taste
Rouge on her lips
Mischief in her eyes
Do I submit . . .

Red across the face
Anger wells inside
must I let it vent
feeling swell and then
I remember him

That place in my soul
warm and safe
no one can touch
except for her
except by me

She is hot
all the world
at her feet
eyelashes flutter
the galaxy hesitates

A dream
a thought
impass
solution
I awaken

a dreary morning
5 days to go
can the goal be met
can I reach beyond
I stretch to reach it