Published Poetry

I often tell people that I do not like my poetry - but that I can’t not write it. I have managed, however, to not write it for some time now, and am thinking that it would be a good idea to start back up again - especially with this fractured ankle keeping me from hiking - argh!

For now, though, here are some pieces that have been published over the past few years:

Judgments

our judgments
are often timely
as though clinging
to that dusky moment of the day
when it seems impossible to discern
whether our own headlights are on
but glaringly obvious that everyone else’s are

© Copyright Deltina Hay, 2004
Published, in the Sorin Oak Review, Volume 15

September

only a month away from the first snow now
summer seems a shorter distance
from the sun each year
i will love the first blanket
soft and clean
it will lay like fresh linen upon the trees
i may even love the second
tucking winter in
under its crystalline quilt
but the third
no
not the third
heavy with the weight
of the flurry to follow
i will sweat
uncomfortable
beneath it

Copyright 2004, Deltina Hay
Published in the Texas Poetry Journal, Spring 2005

The Moment

We walk in silence, the six of us
My lover and I, the two in front
and the two to my right
Bundled against the cold
we walk rhythmically in the dark
Our silence becomes an amplifier
for the echo of footsteps and Gortex
We round a corner and pause in awe
at the size and beauty of the harvest moon
As if afraid of the light
the two in front scurry to the back
And the two to my right
find shelter amongst the trees
It is one of those moments I muse
that one wants in memory forever
My thoughts turn to plans of whispering
romantic reflections in my lover’s ear
Profound reflections that will surely
make the moment outstanding
I reach my gloved hand around him
set it gently on his shoulder
Gortex on Gortex shrieks through the silence
like nails on a chalkboard
He jumps, startled, screams in surprise, “what the…?”
My heart races, my ego bruises, “sorry” I manage
Mere seconds pass and we embrace the silence again
Dark, rhythmic, echoes
Having failed in my attempt to control the moment
I return to watching shadows

© Copyright 2002, Deltina Hay
Published, in the Sorin Oak Review, Volume 13

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