shot glass
title
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Bio


Many of my poems have already appeared in the USA (Atlanta Review, Blue Unicorn, Raintown Review, Fourteen by Fourteen, Barefoot Muse, Iambs & Trochees, Philadelphia Review, Better than Starbucks, The Hypertexts, etc.), Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Israel.

Of my second collection, X J Kennedy (winner of the Robert Frost award for lifetime contribution to poetry) said, 'I Am Janus' is a controlled explosion of strong and colorful stuff, and it's a joy to read a book in which every poem is splendidly well-made and worth reading.'


Peter Austin


 

Amal

Amal Alshteiwi wasn't even ten
When Baba found her, dead from suicide
(His precious, sweetly singing little wren,
Done with, her dreams of diva, his of bride....).
At school the girl was bullied - singled out
For looking different, told she was a freak
(Her eyes dark as the devil's!), spun about,
Bundled from one to other. Being meek,

She couldn't find the courage to betray
The girl who'd sworn to hang her from a tree
And leave her, if she gave the game away....
Lacking concrete proof of iniquity,
The principal and teaching staff (tongues tied),
Spread out their hands and dropped their eyes and sighed.