2 Poems by Joshua Meander

 CLIFF JUMPER’S FEVER

A  much visited seashore peak.                                                        
The cliff does function as a stage                                                    
Where drama happens through the week,                                      
And wisdom there is not the rage.                                                  

Thrill-seekers in their late teens be
Ruling the turf in nonstop show,
Sprinting to jump into the sea,
Barely missing the boulders below.

By noon,  virgins get reckless flu:
Not only boys,  but women,  too.
Now the rational lose their grip
As jumpers yell,  “Abandon ship!”

The cliff --- platform for expression.
By twilight,  the lunatic feast
Shall end,  leaving an impression
On people who need it the least.

 
AROUND A CHESTNUT TREE

Two hundred ecology minded campers                                    
Linked hands around a chestnut tree                                        
On the site of next years super highway.                                  
The growl of bulldozers on prey                                              
Echo in the distance like Marine Tanks.
The campers have planted themselves
Not for a showdown,
But rather to stay beside
Their well cultivated teacher
The chestnut tree,
When the fangs of death
Come to gnaw away at him.
Two hundred of his arborized students,
One for each year he stood
Advancing to the sky
And in their pockets
They have seeds and a list
Of fresh concepts.
Both will germinate into another wooded campus
Better rooted in nature’s verses.


Bionote

Joshua Meander is editor of Nomad's Choir Poetry Journal.