we were before waring

Congratulations to OLD SCRATCH PRESS founding member Robert Fleming, whose poem “we were before waring,” featured in impspired was a Delaware Press Award winner.

WAY TO GO ROBERT!

we were before waring

we wore hair keratin like baboons &
knocked our chests like gorillas

we wore skin like zebras &
bent-over to water like wilder-beasts

we wore muscle like lions &
paw swatted flies like bears

we wore bones like swine &
dug dirt worms like robins

we wore blood like falcons &
taloned on branches like pigeons

we wore fig leaves like chameleons &
hide motionless like a rat out-preying an ambush snake

you named us Adam & Eve
we were before words

THE DAY AROSE COLD

Congratulations to OLD SCRATCH PRESS founding member Morgan Golladay, whose poem “The Day Arose Cold, featured in Solstice, was a Delaware Press Award winner.

WAY TO GO MORGAN!

The Day Arose Cold

The sun rose
into a pink sky, 
pausing
to gain strength
before entering this frozen day.
Yesterday’s snow
is untrodden
by the small ones,
searching for food.
Even squirrels
have forsaken their branches
for warmth and safety
in their leafy nests.
Would that I, too, could stay,
snug and cozy,
but there is snow to move,
feed to put out,
animals to tend.