The Tookany Review Vol. II Fall/Winter 2006/2007
In this issue
Marvin Thall
Edited by Deborah
Fries
At this time, the
Tookany Review
is accepting only the work of
writers who are enrolled
or have been enrolled in
Cheltenham Adult School
writing workshops.
For more information
about
writing workshops offered by
the Cheltenham Township Adult School, contact:
Cheltenham Township Adult
School
1414 Panther Road
Wyncote, PA 19095
Phone: 215-887-1720
Marvin Thall
Two poems
Passage
Hot tea through sugar
cube cuts a sweet passage.
Boy’s urine scrawls free
verse in fresh snow.
River through canyon
walls carves an ancient message.
Wisdom cuts soft and late
into old sages.
Girl’s snow-ball flies at
her clever fellow.
Hot tea through sugar
cube cuts a sweet passage.
Look young ones, old
poets write new pages --
their bold lines compel
us: Follow! Follow!
River through canyon
walls carves an ancient message.
Hasten! Days grow
short and wisdom fades --
thoughts of love and war,
movements fast and slow.
Hot tea through sugar
cube cuts a sweet passage.
Young minds fresh and
open, yet betrayed
by false leaders killing
our tomorrows.
River through canyon
walls carves an ancient message:
Search for truth,
question all. Can you manage
leaps like salmon? Row
against the tide, row!
Hot tea through sugar
cube cuts a sweet passage.
River through canyon
walls carves an ancient message.
Five Seconds on the R-7
Focus, said my
muse,
on the first five
seconds
on your home-bound SEPTA* train:
Five seconds, I thought:
five heartbeats?
five locomotives?
five elephants, or time to read that poster?
NEVER RUN FOR TRAINS
SEPTA SERIOUS ABOUT CHANGE
The clock is ticking — Senior
off-peak fares end at 4:30 —
Five seconds later, I’d pay peak.
A law of physics: in five seconds,
at the speed of light, we could circle
our planet thirty-seven times
(Is that right, Sir Isaac?).
Always racing against time,
to make one’s mark,
to finish your game
before the final whistle.
About love at first sight--
a five second glance,
perhaps? Is that the way it happens?
Or, does it grow like the oak from a tiny seed,
months, years, half-century or more,
your heart still pounds at your lover’s touch,
waiting at the Wyndmoor station,
five seconds ahead.
*Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority
Marvin Thall, a retired engineer and former owner of a bicycle business, has written many poems, which his family will publish in 2007 in honor of his 80th birthday.