New Classic Poems – Contemporary Verse That Rhymes

New Classic Poems
People and Places
Star Student
Brenda Tate
He’s always been distractible and loud,
a laugh’s-breadth from expulsion. He'll harass
with jokes and pokes to get attention, proud
of office calls. He never skips my class,
although he seldom concentrates. He twists,
pretends to study, skims but scarcely reads
his role in Superstar, while he insists
on opening the windows, whines and pleads
to be excused. “But, Miss, I have to pee!”
or later, “Geez, my robes are in the can,”
impenitent as Cain, a six-foot-three
tenth grader, terrified to act the man.
By June, he owns the stage – a costumed Christ
whom I forgive as he is sacrificed.
The Captain's Missing
smzang
Tonight the moon is high, the water’s calm
beneath the boat that nods beside the quay,
It waits the missing captain at the helm;
no place to go, no one to guide the way.
The wicker basket’s ripe with wine and cheese,
the green light’s glowing steady through the fog.
No stars tonight, the gods won’t be appeased,
Clouds crowd a worried sky with monologue.
Where is the helmsman that would steer this craft
Did he fall to plague – lose himself in song
or maybe 'questered deep amidst the chaff,
he failed to notice shadows growing long
A boat without a captain is mere shell
at risk with ev’ry passing ocean swell.
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