A Poem by Sue Neufarth Howard

       Message

 

In catch-up conversations now and then

with an old friend, forty years since

our paths last crossed, we reminisce

our youthful free-spirit ways.

 

He calls with news of loss - a life-long friend

for him, an old flame for me. Flooded with

hot memory, my passion rekindles,

regret for our parting lingers.

 

Hope for a chance encounter forever ended,

feeling empty, I try to send my thoughts -

how important our story is to me, say

goodbye before you're deep into eternity.

 

In my garden, a butterfly, cinnamon

brown, intent on a path toward me, swoops

down to alight, rest, and fan-open its

black-edged wings on my book.

 

 

 

 

Sue Neufarth Howard is a Cincinnati native, published poet, visual artist, former business writer in marketing and sales training at DuBois Chemicals, retired. Graduate of Miami University, Oxford (Speech-Radio/TV) and UC Evening College (Associate in Art).  Member, Greater Cincinnati Writers' League (GCWL) and Colerain Artists. Received Third Prize and/or Honorable Mention in several Ohio Poetry Day Contests since 1998. 1983 Poet Laureate for Clifton Heights/Fairview - Cincinnati Recreation Commission Neighborhood Poetry Contest.  Poems published: In Storm Cycle – 2013 Best of Anthology, Kind of a Hurricane Press;  January, 2014 issue of Cattails online journal; Point Mass anthology, Kind of a Hurricane Press;  the online journal High Coupe; the online magazine AEQAI; the Journal of Kentucky Studies - 25th Anniversary Edition; the Mid-America Poetry Review; Nomad's Choir; The Incliner - Cincinnati Art Museum; the Creative Voices Anthology of the Institute for Learning in Retirement, City of Cincinnati; in several For a Better World - Poems on Peace and
Justice by Greater Cincinnati Artists anthologies; and Poetic Hours Magazine, Carlton, England.   Poetry chapbooks, self published via Lulu.com in 2012:  TreeScapes, EarthWords, In and Out of the Blue Zoo.