Poetry by Samuel Strathman

Lobster’s Predicament

Lobster snails between 

narrow avenues of sea 

for the better part

of his life.

He refuses to seek

out the challenges 

above him, numerous 

opportunities that have sunk 

too far down

to reach.

Routine is his manacle,

cocooned in a carapace

on top of the shell

he already bears.

Little does Lobster know,

that if he continues

on this path –

fails to swim –

stronger forces will encroach

upon his territory

and swallow him whole.

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Archaic Town

A town where cabins

are propped up 

on nails, 

somber and plain,

leaving nothing 

for the eyes

to behold or the mind 

to construe. 

Rusted station wagons

line the front lawn,

more rust than wagon –

browned the way fingernails

fade to yellow.

Everything that has been 

manufactured remains

the same for generations, 

dense in its inauthenticity. 

Each monolith lacks 

allegory, catastrophic. 

No use holding on 

to the possibility 

of a new beginning 

if we have seen it all before.

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