3 Poems by Joshua Meander

An  Ideal  Swordsman              

His goal is balance.  His pledge:

Never recoil when threatened.                                                                         

                                                                                               

His point:  to be vigilant.                                                      

He moves like a proud danseur.                                            

An infuriated charge.

He slashes,  and then retreats.

He thinks fast,  he strikes again,

But blade can split at the hilt.

A downward stroke is ideal:

Rendered opponent must live.

Black Shell

Black-clad intruder is better camouflaged                                          

Than a trap door;  yet for plucking a spider,                                     

A concealed entrance is better than stalking.                                    

Loosened bricks dislodge straw-sandaled assassin.                           

Black-clad prowler spells

Ninja and foul play,

But this scoundrel is known as a sacred spy.

A  samurai said,

“He who poses like midnight

Must then be a veiled bandit.

He who keeps his dagger in a tortoise shell

Pierces then without courage.”

The bamboo tree sees truth vanish on a gale.

Golem

In a ghetto he is the huge freak

Servant to a bearded shopkeeper.

He has clay flesh and works silently.                          

                                                                                    

He is either a former convict                                       

Or a supernatural being.                                              

Most people are uncertain,

So they avoid his wide shadow.

From his gold chain swings an amulet

Engraved with a cryptic inscription.

Does he chant it for preservation?

If rejected by the shopkeeper,

Will he go berserk like a twister,

Or disappear in his own quicksand?


Bionote

Joshua Meander, best known as publisher and host of Nomad's Choir Poetry Journal and New York City Open Mic. of the same name. His writing is dramatic and heartfelt. He works the graveyard shift in the security dept. of a French hotel. A world traveler himself which inspires his Muse.