Welcome to MarbleHillPress!

I hope to share my poetry and short prose, and maybe a few opinions about creative writing. Who knows what will develop here. This is my first attempt at a blog, and I hope I get all the bugs worked out soon.

It’s the 3rd of July, 2011, and Norwood is poised to celebrate. In honor of this I will share my poem called:

 

Fourth Of July

10 am Parade
Passes through the middle of town
Waving flags

Later, that same afternoon,
Lawnmower races in the park,
Hunched men in dirty T-shirts lean into the battle

Fries sizzle in vintage anniversary grease

Hot sun on dirt near the beer tent
Smelling of cotton candy,
Deep-fried bread dough, and armpits

Tired underdressed women
Push sleeping babies in strollers,
Bumping over the grass

Grandma fans her face with a paper plate
In the Bingo tent

A softball “tinks” against an aluminum bat
Generating chatter and shrieks

Twilight cars cruise the road
Searching for wayward teens
Who have not called home for hours

Dimming of the day –
Thinning of the crowd

Cars line the back roads for miles –
Even the dry bridge is full of people

Fireworks display
Including screaming babies, who don’t understand the celebration,
only boom- boom- boom of thunder

Hard core drinkers linger in the semi-dark
With raised voices insinuating accusations of adultery

Spinning red lights appear
As more people decide to call it a night.

 

 

By Diane E. Dockum