Lines -- Martha Collins

(Poem #231)Lines Draw a line. Write a line. There. Stay in line, hold the line, a glance between the lines is fine but don't  turn corners, cross, cut in, go over or out, between two points of no return's a line of flight, between two points of view's a line of vision. But a line of thought is rarely straight, an open line's no party line, however fine your point.  A line of fire communicates, but drop your weapons and drop your line, consider the shortest distance from x to y, let x be me, let y be you.  -- Martha Collins

The Story We Know -- Martha Collins

(Poem #225)The Story We Know The way to begin is always the same. Hello, Hello. Your hand, your name. So glad, Just fine, And Good-bye at the end. That's every story we know, And why pretend? But lunch tomorrow? No? Yes? An omelette, salad, chilled white wine? The way to begin is simple, sane, Hello, And then it's Sunday, coffee, the Times, a slow Day by the fire, dinner at eight or nine And Good-bye. In the end, this is a story we know So well we don't turn the page, or look below The picture, or follow the words to the next line: The way to begin is always the same Hello. But one night, through the latticed window, snow Begins to whiten the air, and the tall white pine. Good-bye is the end of every story we know That night, and when we close the curtains, oh, We hold each other against that cold white sign Of the way we all begin and end. Hello, Good-bye is the only story. We know, we know. -- Martha Collins