Marshall Writers' Guild | Carole Kays Schaefer

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Marshall Chapter of the Missouri Writers' Guild

CAROLE KAYS SCHAEFER

This writer's essay appeared December 24, 2006 in the Kansas City Star travel section under the feature, Where I Have Been. Her work can be found in the Marshall Writers Guild anthology books and Columbia Writers Guild "Well Versed". Articles by her have appeared in The Kansas City Star Magazine, Capper's Magazine, the Missouri State Teachers Association "School and Community" magazine, The Marshall Democrat-News, Slater Main Street News and The Ozark Mountaineer. She lives in Marshall, Missouri where she writes in between wifely duties and catering to her cat, Queen Sheba, (aka Misty).

November Sunlight

November sunlight
Belied the season
in Dallas,
Belied the shadow
in the upper window.
Shone on Arthur and his queen
smiling and waving, beguiling
the world.
A pop... pop, pop
Never again believe
in November sunlight.

November sunlight
Belied the season
in Ohio
Belied business-as-usual
in Northern Lights Mall.
Shone in a shop window,
colliding with a red neon light announcing
"Open".
Inside halcyon music softly intoned,
"People, people who need people, are the luckiest..."
The music stopped.
A wavering voice, "President Kennedy... shot"
Behind the counter
a drowsy clerk gasped, "NO"
The little brown teapot slipped from my grasp,
its shards collecting warmth from the window.
Never again believe
in November sunlight.

Carole Kays Schaefer -- November 2006

If I Could

If I could be a man

I'd never …

Get a stinky perm,

Smutch on sooty mascara,

Alter a slippery sagging hem,

Fret at a burgeoning derriere,

Visit a cold-handed gynecologist, or

Endure a waddling pregnancy.

NEVER.

But if I could be a man

Would I …

Back up a mile-long meandering trailer,

Move and re-move a weighty sofa,

Spring for dinner at the Ritz,

Vie for a fickle female,

Abide a stifling necktie, or

Shave my face over and over and over and over?

NEVER.

Carole Kays Schaefer -- April 2006

Jupiter's Caprice

Jupiter, king of the sky
Booms and roars an omnipotent cry --
Stratus
Cumulus
Cirrus
Nimbus
Gather water, wind and fire
Alchemize to my desire.

Jupiter commands --
Stratus, build me a colossal layered tower
Olympus I'll defy.
Nimbus, strike a lightning rod,
My scepter to electrify.

Jupiter whispers --
Cirrus, make me a mare
With wind-sprayed tail to ride.
Cumulus -- heap me a feathery Golden Fleece
A trysting place, to hide.

So when you see a cloudless sky
Know King Jupiter dallies nearby.
Even gods are men, you sigh.

Author's Note: Jupiter, King of the gods, was known for his many affairs, which he cunningly hid from his wife, Hera.

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