Kenneth Pobo

2 STONE, 1 STONE
Kindness is a stoneunder the shockof red on cardinalflowers.
Unkindness is a stonethrown hard, the shockof woundsthat never heal.

I THINK ABOUT LOVINGKINDNESS. I THINK ABOUT LOVING KINDNESS.
When I told my mother I was gay,she cried. So did I.
The next day she went to the local library,started reading aboutgay people. There wasn’t much,some homophobic (early 80s). She wanted to knowwho I was.
Lovingkindness. Loving kindness. +
I see my mother,now gone,head in a book,not knowing thenthe gift she was giving.

PILES OF OLD CRUELTIES
Some people save,others toss.
I’m usually the latter—except with cruelties.
Those I let pile upso that even getting in the dooryou stumble on bursting boxes,overstuffed plastic containers,
nasty words and actions
that makefallinginevitable,
trippingdown the stairs,breaking my neck.

Kenneth Pobo won the 2011 Qarrtsiluni chapbook contest for Ice And Gaywings. They published it in November 2011.