Poems of Kateri Lanthier

Scare quotes, scarecrows, sacred cows

ripped from the headlines,

tossed in the bin. A real mess,

this time, unrecyclable.

Kids are making mountains out of mudhills.

It's all one big smear campaign here.

A Sargasso sea of

celebutantes, starchitects,

those who fall upward.

Champers on the balcony,

chanters below.

GPS led us

wrong way down the runway.

The police put on the kettle

in the rain.

It beggars belief

in the bomb-proof bunker.

The liar in his lair,

a hideous hideout

of Corinthian concrete.

Even if we're not invited to the party

we should go as

unsuspecting guests.

~Kateri Lanthier

A dry spring levels the playing field.

Boy, fourth April, Size 3 jacket.

Father robin, rust-robust, a bruiser.

Red red.

Head-strong run, halt, who goes there?

No mud ruckus? Kick it over.

Buds keep secrets

close to their chests.

Irises glazed eggshell blue.

Turquoise sky tucked under lids.

Last year’s leaves,

dust moths, whirl up.

Worms drill down.

~ by Kateri Lanthier

You Are the Picture of Somebody Reading

Apples to apples.

Dusk to dusk.

Change the lightbald.

Skew the course.

This makeshift memorial

poses no threat

to a chord progression

regime change.

Moon and croon crumbs,

trail gone stone.

Fight shy of rhyme.

Unlearn the ode.

Happy Unheard!

Cold Pastoral!

Brighten my eyes,

school my pupils.

Flood Lake Geneva

With Great Lakes tears.

by Kateri Lanthier