Welcome to a Sunday night edition of Poetry Night, where I produce some original poetry usually inspired by the territory and lands I live in or my day to day experiences and musings. Tonight will be a mix of both of those ideas.
I managed to get out onto the Mississippi River again today, thanks very much to my wife. It was especially lovely in October when you can see the leaves changing and you don’t start sweating five minutes after you step outside like you do in July. This was (hopefully) the first of a few results of the trip.
Drifting
Fort Madison, Iowa, 26 October 2025
Upstream
The boat muscles against the current
Against the Flow
While we huddle as the wind
Whisks our warmth away.
Once we navigate the starboard turn
Between the green can near the Iowa side
And the red cone near the Illinois
The current and the islands protect us from
The worst of the wind
And we go with the flow.
The multicolored leaves shelter the cabins
On the River’s edge
And it feels like home.
I’ve tried to not get too political with my writing in general and especially my poetry, but it feels like there’s more that needs to be said.
The Cost of Speech
Fort Madison, Iowa, 26 October 2025
Americans confuse “freedom of speech”
With “free speech.”
Trust a teacher and poet to get pedantic
With vocabulary and definitions.
While the latter is a shortened version of the former,
Implications grow that speech is free.
Speech, in fact, has both great value
And great cost.
The proper words have enough value
To inspire people and save souls.
But they also cost their speakers
In ways more valuable than money.
All of us have freedom
But we all have to pay the cost.
Now a quick commercial break, lol.
If You’re Interested in the Poetry You See Here… You Might Want to Check Out Some More…
My first collection of poetry is out.
Since Substack doesn’t have the setup for this (that I’m aware of), I’ve set up something at my WordPress sister site, Liegois Media. I have my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. The link is below.
I hope you’ve had a great weekend. I’ll see you around the bend.
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