O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Richard Widerkehr
As We Walk West in Late Afternoon: Ira Speaks
Behind phone wires, cloud wisps like pink-red fingers
seem to drift with us. They’re fuchsia,
you say. Last evening on 4-South, we admitted
a frail older woman. Thelma didn’t know
where she was. When I told her, she glared
at my plastic I.D. badge. That explains
a lot about you, she said, stubbing one finger
toward my chest.
. Under the green EXIT sign
glowing like radium, she proceeded to sit mute
by our locked double doors, blocked the entrance,
refused to go to her room. Four of us cradled her
like a gaunt peahen. May your souls be forgiven,
she said.
. As our charge nurse Miss Dee
gave her the injection of Ativan, we held Thelma
gently on her bed. Later, I strummed
the unit guitar, a few chords in the dark.
By our hall table, not far from our bright
nurses’ station, I sang “On Wings Of A Dove”
as she had asked. Now in the west, red clouds
almost like fringes—on the empty street,
we stop, and they stop, too.
About the writer:
Richard Widerkehr’s recent fourth book is Night Journey (Shanti Arts Press), and At The Grace Cafe (Main Street Rag) came out in 2021. His work has appeared in Open: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L), Writer’s Almanac, and Take A Stand: Art Against Hate (Raven Chronicles). He won two Hopwood first prizes for poetry at University of Michigan, first prize for a short story at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. He reads poems for Shark Reef Review.
Image: Landscape with Red Cloud by Konrad Mägi (1878-1925). Oil on canvas. 26.1 x 21.6 inches. 1913. Public domain.
Pamphlets
Individual works
Poetry: All forms & styles|Richard Widerkehr|”Two December Mornings”
Poetry: All forms & styles|Richard Widerkehr|”Kristallnacht, 1938: Night of Shattered Glass”
Poetry: All forms & styles|Richard Widerkehr|”When You Ask About That Dream”
Poetry: All forms & styles|Writer’s Portfolio||Richard Widerkehr|”At O’Hare Airport: Her Foxgloves”
Poetry: All forms & styles|Writer’s Portfolio||Richard Widerkehr|”Spin The Bottle: 1958″
Poetry: All forms & styles|Writer’s Portfolio||Richard Widerkehr|”Sympathy for the Scarecrow”
Americana|Poetry: All forms & styles||Richard Widerkehr|”Biloxi”
OJAL Art Incorporated, publishing since 2017 as OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L) and its imprints Buttonhook Press, HOT BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Issues, and HIGH BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Art, supports writers and artists worldwide.
BUTTONHOOK PRESS MASTERS SERIES
Click on the titles to explore or download the free PDF chapbooks.
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Brian Clements on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Mark Budman on Flash Discourse
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Ray Gonzalez on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Michael Martone on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Roberta Allen on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series: Peter Conners on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Maxine Chernoff on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Pedro Ponce on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Tom Hazuka on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Kent Dixon on Flash Fiction & Nonfiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series: Jim Meirose on Experimental Discourse
With an interview by Associate Editor Warwick Newnham
O:JA&L’S HIGH BUTTON PRESS ART CHAPBOOKS
Click on the titles to explore or download the free PDF chapbooks.
RITES OF CALIBRATION: Images & Excerpts
Fine Art Photography by Rex Wilder
Fine Art Photography by Natalie Christensen
Painting and drawing by Anne-Marie Brown
BY LAND AND BY SEA: Awakening the Sensual
Sculpture and Installation by Mark Yale Harris
Painting and drawing by Bette Ridgeway
Painting and drawing by Kathleen Frank
Painting and drawing by Catherine Eaton Skinner
Implications of Energy
Artist portfolio of Dr. Ernest Williams III
