3 Poems by Karl W. Carter, Jr.

SUMMER DANCE
                                     
Lucy dances in the back yard  with her eyes closed
              and  her arms held out from her sides
                                                 turning round and round
While she remembers  hop-scotch played on
                                          hot summer side walks
Going bare-foot through the grass in the rain                                              
And the day mama bought
                                   her some ribbon
                                        for her hair
How it was that spring when her mother cooked greens
And she would sit on the steps
                                        and watch  the boys
                                        play ball in the street
 Lucy dances and remembers
                                     when her brother came back
From the war that wasn’t his
How he kept crying all night and staring
                                        off into space
And wonders why------mama keeps taking in the wash


 SPACES

     Between the shadow and the light
                                   Between dusk and sunset
                                   Spaces shimmer in the afternoon sun
                                   Dust motes dance at childhoods door
                                   Love rests between the eves
                                   And your song is always there
                                   A  half step between the notes
                                   A tear between the rain drops
                                   To fill the emptiness that
                                   Remains between us
                                   A memory of loves lingering melody


BY DEFINITION

   For Darrel & Shawnee Anderson- &- the Dancer
I am a thief of words
A kleptomaniac of phrases
A mugger of old dreams
A hearsay robber
A diction hijacker
A verbal stick up kid
A language predator
A pick-pocket of leftover thoughts
A verse scrounger
A dialect porch climber
A defalcator of nuance
A  alocution  bandit
I am a poet-a thief of words
             steal this if you can


Bionote

Karl W. Carter, Jr. resides in Alexandria, Va. His poetry appears in numerous anthologies and Poetry Reviews/Quarterlies including: Three Poems (Broadside Press, 1972).  Understanding the New Black Poetry (William Morrow, 1973); Synergy D.C. Anthology (Energy Black South Press, 1978); The Poet Upstairs: (1979); Drum Voices Review: Chicken Bones- A Journal 2005; Drum Voices Review 2012; Words of Protest, Words of Freedom, (Duke University Press 2012). Delaware Poetry Review (2013);Beltway Poetry Quarterly.(2014); Broadkill Review Vol.8 No.4 (2014);  Beltway Poetry Quarterly Best of the Net  Nominee #3(2014);Poet Lore Vol. 109, No. 3/4 (2014); About Place Journal, Vol.II, Issue IV (2014); Poetry Pacific, Spring Issue (5/5/2015); Journal of Hip Hop Studies Vol.3., Issue-1(2016).  Delaware Poetry Review Volume 8 No.1(2017). He has also published a book of Poetry Southern Road and Selected Poems (2014).