Poets Salon: Hope Dies Last

Hope (Photo – Kathabela Wilson)

POETS SALON

– 12/19/23

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

in my museum
of broken things
a cookie tin
boldly labeled HOPE
I fill it with all that’s left

~ Kathabela

Ο Ο Ο

Hope (Photo – Marilyn Asbaugh)

Michael Flanagan

it occurs to me
that if we worked as hard
on peace
as on ‘puters and rockets
what a wonderful world this’d be

Ο

from my little chair I spy
the huge green hutch you loved
the anniversary clock spinning
snow globes from far and wide
and your ivy still thriving

Ο

hope comes with dawn

a burst of energy
that wakes me

forcing me away
from the chaos
life brings

ΟOO

Natalia Kuznetsova

ceasefire
over snowbound minefields
first star

Ο

Hope dies last… this has helped people at all times to live and cope with misery and grief, and even survive. Indeed it’s like a star you see only in the dark and which can guide you out of it.

ΟOO

Marilyn Ashbaugh

a crescent of hope winter moon

Ο

hope
the soft landing
of a snowflake

Ο

riding high
on a whitecap
hopeful moon

Ο

Hope (Photo – Natalia Kuznetsova)

Hope: Notes and Credits

Michael Flanagan is a flyfisherman/poet in St Paul, Minnesota. He worked in cardiac and healtth care for nearly 50 years.

Natalia Kuznenova is an English language teacher, translator and poet who lives in Moscow, Russia. She started to write haiku in English in 2007 and since then has participated in numerous competitions worldwide and has received various awards. Her haiku and senryu have been published in many countries in traditional and online publications. She is included in The Haiku Foundation Registry and is on the list of “European Top Most Creative Haiku Authors” 2010-2022.

Marilyn Ashbaugh finds hope in writing poetry and photographing nature in southwestern Michigan. She is widely published in journals and anthologies featuring Japanese short-form poetry.

Suggest your own theme or write Kathabela for a theme suggestion. We publish every two weeks. Send short poems, free verse, haiku, senryu, tanka, cherita, haibun, tanka prose, short prose poems, etc., or your own unique approach, to Kathabela by text message or (click here to email her directly). We can feature your work again after five months. Multiple submissions can be saved to appear later:

1. Send a short bio, with comments on your theme.
2. Send photos or artwork by you, or friends.
3. Put your poems directly in the email.
4. No attachments except photos.

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