The Smiling Crowd & Preserved Hubris by Richard LeDue

the smiling crowd

smiles, as if it had one mouth,

eyes inconsequential among such shared joy,

hands happy to hold nothing,

feet content staying in place,

and the communal roar

tells the silence all it needs to know,

while dead stars twinkle

like a fake smile one practices

to survive these days.

Preserved Hubris

The minutes scurry away

like sugar bugs

after months old spilled honey,

on a cupboard shelf

one has to stand on a chair

to see, was discovered

and wiped up, scoured,

left barren except for canned goods,

bottles- all purchased

with the idea that they'll be

for later.

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“These two poems were rejected by another publication, and I was going to sit on them for a bit. I am a believer in that time can be a great editor, so my plan was to return to these pieces at some point in the future. However, I can be a bit forgetful and have actually unintentionally abandoned poems just because I never thought to go back and edit them.”

Richard LeDue (he/him) lives in Norway House, Manitoba, Canada. He has been published both online and in print. He is the author of seven books of poetry. His latest book, “Everyday Failure,” was released from Alien Buddha Press in October 2022.