Wallpaper Postcards

Nervous ocean clashes with blissful
heavens, tacked diagonally to the dark
wood wall. Stick people withered by
sun stand dazed between sea and sky.
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, July 5, 1958.

Twin rows of shimmering white teeth
in faces black as a Bible's cover.
Small boys picking berries.
Birmingham, Alabama, August 21, 1961

Lonely, arthritic blades on tottering
legs creak in the unrelenting wind.
on all sides, empty space.
Sunray, Texas, December 1, 1967

Gray box on wheels: one horsepower.
Striding out of the last century and
into the next. Amish family. Bird-in-
Hand, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1990

Turbulent, ghost-like it rises, ashen
against an indigo sky. Old Faithful,
Yellowstone, September 16, 1992


Originally published in the 1994
"cold drill," a literary publication
of Boise Stae University.

Please note that, unless otherwise indicated, all the poetry, prose, and photographs on this blog are the creative property of Leonard Nolt and may not be reprinted or republished in any form without permission.