Sometimes, my students will share their poetry in their portfolios they turn in at the end of the course. Here are two from the Academic Seminar course I last taught at Delta Community College.

Taxi
by Jessie Dunham

A Young man standing on the side,
Waits for a taxi to take him on his last ride.
“Where to,” said the Driver.
Take me to the end of this road.
This life has put on me a heavy load.
I’ve lost my daughter of only three,
and now there is no need for me.
I’m stuck in this world all alone.
The driver listed to the man’s tone.
He could tell that he was half gone.
His life flashed before his eyes,
As the window showed all his cries,
all his laughs and all his lies.
He saw that it was worth the while.
He tapped the driver with a smile
“Slow down!” the man cried.
“Stop the car
“Cease, subside!”
After all, it is a very short ride.

Whisper of the Past
by Heather Pruitt

Winter was in the air that night
As I set out on that long-forgotten road
To ease my pain and fill my heart
With memories of all things past

And on that empty road that stretched for miles
I found myself to be nothing
Not a whisper in the air
Not a name of one’s lips

Then there came a voice from far away
That chilled me to the bone
I had an urge to run to safety
Until I recognized it as my own.

It recalled the dark, unknown abyss
That masquerades as my past
Hiding in the smallest corners
Of the shadows of my mind.

And there I stood alone and cold
With nothing left on the old road
Not a thing to look back at
And only a whisper of the past.