EVERY BOY'S HERO

They kept it a major secret like buried
Cuban missiles or the true value of gold,
Never told us that you were just like us.

Even when they paraded you in pinstripes
Or gave you some lucky number
Or put your portrait on a box of bran flakes,

You were every boy's hero
We didn't care about the smoking, the
Drinking, or your father's image

Or your illness that ran in the family,
Or cared how you neglected your children and wife
Or knew why you ran so well,

Because you were a legend, our hero
And idols make perfect statues
Like yours they placed in center field.

- Clinton Van Inman

(featured in the poetry forum 02.17.12)

editor's note: Nasty secrets topple our icons. Everyday life is theirs as it is ours? Scandalous! Now, turn to your idol in the mirror. Any secrets there? - mh

NO IN MY NOEL

I learned at an early age
What happens to all snowmen,
Why the fake beards

As I sat upon his lap
And took his hard candy.
Now there is only no in my noel.

But I fool them in my
Berry reds and holly greens
Perpetual as prize ribbons

Now New Years breaks with bad breath
While the world awaits with
Its perfect white teeth, I run like a gnome.

- Clinton Van Inman

(featured in the poetry forum 04.03.11)

editor's note: "Please, I beg you; I will endeavor to keep the Spirits of the Past, the Present and the Future in my heart throughout the year. Only, spare me, spare me." - Ebeneezer Scrooge

DIANA (MOON)

Drag your white skull beyond blind seas
That tumble dazed to you mono-eyed magic.
Go tell Neptune when the night is through.
Charm him, too, with your waxing and waning.
But you can’t catch me with those veiled half smiles.
Your borrowed brilliance exposes you.
I know your darker side.
Go charm some other star struck rhapsodist.

- Clinton Van Inman

(featured in the poetry forum 01.26.11)

editor's note: This poet is not stricken by her stark beauty, not duped by her dark side. I, in the meantime, cannot take my eyes away. I know her half-smiles must be for me. - mh