An Asp in the Garden

Contributor: Sy Roth

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The streets his Garden of
Eden-lush trees,
verdant lawns of soft grass,
swaying warming winds.
While they scurry through the streets,
he rests in their breezes.
Calloused feet hardened
to broken city glass,
uneven concrete,
frozen ground,
and the asp in his garden.

Cells chatter
911 pity cries.
They move him
to sanctuary
his madness an uncomfortable presence,
an unpunishable societal aberration,
then release him back into his garden
of choice,
what he deserves for being alive.

Passersby avoid with eyes and
downturned heads.
He insists on his reality--
others be damned
if they don’t like it.


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He comes riding in and then canters out. Oftentimes, the head is bowed by reality; other times, he is proud to have said something noteworthy. Retired after forty-two years as teacher/school administrator, he now resides in Mount Sinai, far from Moses and the tablets. This has led him to find words for solace. He spends his time writing and playing his guitar. He has published in Visceral Uterus, Amulet, BlogNostics, Every Day Poets, Barefoot Review, Haggard and Halloo, Misfits Miscellany, Larks Fiction Magazine, Danse Macabre, Bitchin’ Kitsch, Bong is Bard, Humber Pie, Poetry Super Highway, Penwood Review, Masque Publications, Foliate Oak, Miller’s Pond Poetry, The Artistic Muse, Word Riot, Samizdat Literary Journal, Right Hand Pointing, The Screech Owl, Epiphany, Red Poppy Review, Big River, Poehemians, Nostrovia Poetry’s Milk and Honey, Siren, Palimpsest, Dead Snakes, Euphemism, Humanimalz Literary Journal, Ascent Aspirations, Fowl Feathered Review, Vayavya, Wilderness House Journal, Aberration Labyrinth, Mindless(Muse), and Kerouac’s Dog.