Lilliput Review Issue #179

#179 is a good number, I have to say, like a good wine. It is meant to be savored and enjoyed, it contains precious notes of winds, seeds, and the aftertaste of the afterlife. I am happy to share with you some of my favorite poems:

The Expression of Rain

Just as water darkens wood
and brings its grain closer to the surface
rain can change a face.

“He wore the expression of rain” means
that his face could be seen through
seen into

suddenly fragile
as a drop just fallen
against a windowpane.

By: Karina Borowicz of Florence, MA

I like this one for its simple beauty when you first read it and then as you savor it, the layers of meaning underneath. We as humans watch facial expressions for clues to the emotions within a person. This poem brings that to the surface and likens it to wood grain changing as it darkens in the rain just as a person’s face darkens in mood and the lines or wrinkles appear more prominently with the change in the facial expression.



Seed and Wind

If life should always have such dandelion
fresh and shocking yellow-bright hello-ness
to the eyeball universe

how short our time would be before
seediness would settle in and winds
would blow away what seems to matter

to matter
as for instance maybe this.

By: Mark Rich of Cashton, WI

This poem struck me because it appears bright and cheerful like the dandelion at first but then it spreads out to mention how short life is and asks “how short our time would be before/seediness would settle in and winds/would blow away what seems to matter.” My take on it is that joy and light does not last forever even in the brightest of circumstances but to enjoy those short moments while you can.



It wouldn’t be hell

if heaven didn’t keep knocking on the door.

By: Charlie Mehrhoff of Oakland, ME

It’s so short yet so rich with meaning. There are countless ways to interpret the meaning. I interpret it to mean that if heaven is knocking then that must mean loved ones are passing away and that the poet is expressing his feelings about it.



Issue #179 is available for a mere $1.00 and well worth it, I’d say. You can order issues of Lilliput Review, edited by Don Wentworth, from his blog at:

http://lilliputreview.blogspot.com/

Thanks always for reading, please click in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…