Note from the editor: Contributors to this site usually send me their thoughts about work in essay form. After all, that’s what the FAQ requests. But Stephanie K. Turner of Cincinnati, Ohio sent me two poems, and I liked them very much. Here they are…

The Editor

She toned the hues of purple prose,
she patched together poems;
she bitched about the typos
found in published tomes;
she counted out the scansion
and tidied up the rhymes;
fixed spelling and punctuation
ten thousand million times;
but when asked, “Are you a writer?”
She said sadly, “Me? Oh no.
I do not soar in graceful vees;
I just keep the ducks in rows.”

The Workerwoman’s Prayer

Oh Father Time, be my good friend,
And make this week like water wend:
Make the days as short as grass,
Once the hungry sheep have passed;
Make the moon fly through the sky
As swallows swoop at even time.
Five days short and sweet for me,
‘Gainst two days long and slow with he
Who long of limb and lingering eye
Makes this working woman sigh.