Literary Crumbs: Poems & Short Stories to Savor by D. Ryan Lafferty

  • To Know a Friend

    Most won’t be there through thick and thin, but pretend to be as close as kin. Like vines that cling to mighty trees, they slowly twist and bind with ease. Sinuously serpentine, weaving through and in between, caressing branches while choking leaves, corrupting shapes and bending beams, leaving a twisted mockery of the beauty there… Read more

  • Cross-Country

    I’d walk along this path at work during lunchtime, a trail set aside for the students to run cross-country track.  Each day emerging from my hermetically sealed cocoon, shedding the artifice of the locked-down environment. The breezeless corridors, a bland interior, the color of composition paper;a dingy white with several hints of blue and one… Read more

  • Concrete Nails and Pine

    Separated from our natural state, we’ve made our homes a box.Three-story mortgaged coffins with all the doors and windows locked. Mow down that lawn and gather up those lost upsetting leaves and burn them in a fire pit to keep our homestead clean. Polish up those floors and paint all the walls bright white, with… Read more

  • Inter Arma Silent Leges

    (In time of war, law falls silent) – Cicero Even Caesar would lament the apparent wisdom of these words, for who can deny the failings of human nature? More observation than advice really. Despite the deafening clamor that rises from the red-handed mobsand their hasty misdeeds, the law is far from silent during times of… Read more

  • Ellen’s Tree

    (A tribute to my teacher, Mrs. Ellen Wehrman, and her lovely tree) On Park Street down in old Bordentown where houses reside in rows…Along a path of brick and sand, a tall young sapling grows. And on the ground for all to see are two words upon a stone, not a long and lengthy diatribe… Read more

  • Not I

    Who would want to write this poem down?For then it would be still. Locked in place forever bound,which pulp and ink conceal. Peering eyes prying in, elocution over done, piece my puzzle into life,given breath upon the tongue. To pick a form and nail it down, the fleeting words upon the page, whose brief and… Read more

Here you will find full text versions of my poems. Use the thumbnail scroller to preview my poems and click on any to post to view the full work.
Feel free to like, share, and comment! Enjoy!

Literary Crumbs: Poems & Short Stories to Savor by D. Ryan Lafferty

Who is D. Ryan Lafferty?

Ryan is a local poet and the author-illustrator of his own children’s’ books, When I Grow Up! and The Adventurous Tale of Tiara Lee. He is a middle school English teacher living in Bordentown, NJ. He holds a doctorate in education and enjoys sharing his books and creative process through school visits and local readings. Feel free to reach out to arrange a visit to your school or youth organization.

Ryan loves creativity in all its forms and hopes that you do too.

Enjoy!

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