Eastman Living Online Magazine

On a day watching TV alone, A joke tickles my funny bone; An immediate smile, Giggles a while, A big laugh out loud sets the tone. An eruption of hearty guffaws, Reaction well beyond cause; Soon I’m delirious, I cannot be serious, I’m out of control with heehaws. Down from the couch I now slide, […]

Grey now the timbers whose columns have weathered Seasons of snow and bright shining sun. Alone in the meadow its stalls now untended. Lifeless yet living from yesterday’s farm. Bent is your rooftop, loss of its stature. Defiant it raises its curve to the sun. Walls sag and weary, beams that have fallen Floors are […]

By Larry Larsen There is glory in the moonbeam that skates across the lake, Night its secret lover. Restless glitter that shines when nothing else does. The lake reaches for the dancing light but never holds it still. Woods and rocks are solemn and quiet, Watching the eternal romance between darkness and light. The light […]

Awaken to a raven’s call Slip outside, star-struck, midnight, midwinter See hawk wing marks on new snow Film through your window, an owl stalking… Snatching… devouring a shrew Listen to peepers to celebrate Mothers’ Day Discover a hummingbird egg on the trail Admire fresh bear prints in your neighbor’s garden View a swamp wholly blue, […]

By Ethel Paquin Eventually my cows will come home to roost. Every year they’re a few steps closer. Every year I store more hay. I haven’t needed it yet. I walk backwards these days staring into the past, which stares silently back at me. Life it turns out is inscrutable. Today my sky is brilliant […]

By Larry Larsen Dancing. Swish and swirl. Weave and curl. Spin and then Twist and turn. Bend and flow. Better go slow. Whoa. Whew. Better sit down now.

By Judy MaCarthy In Pennsylvania, goldenrod lined the highway. A common wildflower, oft disparaged except in England, it has an amiable, sunny, steadfast, disposition. In Ohio, pale yellow stalks of drying corn reminded us of sun-kissed summer days, of picnics on the porch, of bright sunrises and softly glowing sunsets that, like butter, melt deliciously […]

Entombed deep beneath ice and snow, The birth chamber of spring far below; Winter days still unfold, Golden sun sparsely doled, Cold threshold for the season in throe. By and by shortened days start to grow, Melting landscape, diminished ice floe; Woebegone faces brighten, Now the snow traces lighten, A warm glow from the spring […]

By Ethel Paquin Prayer is what I’m left with when nothing I’ve tried has worked. I’m not a believer but sometimes the need for guidance is strong and I send out a general call to Someone. Help me out here. Hope is what I’m left with when my generic 911 doesn’t generate a solution, and […]

By Ethel Paquin | June 2015 You’ve burned through life like a house-a-fire, like someone with ants in his pants. Didn’t anyone teach you to smell the roses, read the writing on the wall? Whatever I said to you fell on deaf ears, and look where you’ve ended up, feet jammed firmly between a rock […]

EVERY WRITER’S DREAM Copyright 1999 by Joel D. Ash | All rights Reserved  Words and thoughts pouring forth consequential, Rapid flow from the mind that’s torrential; In a poem lines unite, Stanzas wax erudite, All this done using rhymes quintessential. Depth of meaning beyond existential, With connections conceived, inferential; New ideas taking flight, Some that […]

Poetic Photo By Richard Sachs   Brigade on Parade Copyright 1996 by Joel d. Ash All Rights Reserved Those toy soldiers from England so grand, An army all painted by hand; To dress up the lead, Their coats painted red, Redcoats little boys can command. What a gift – – what a way to impress, […]

The Artist in Her Kitchen By Ethel Paquin I’m not the cook my grandmother was. Who could be hampered as we are by progress. I have the latest appliances: Two ovens—one with convection; a selection of food my grandmother could only dream of; my grandmother’s recipes, written down at my request, though she didn’t have […]

A Sunny Day Copyright 2010 by Joel D. Ash All Rights Reserved Glowing streaks in the sky, early morn, Grand commencement of day, sun’s sojourn;      Bursting forth at daybreak,      As you gaze wide-awake, The full glory of dawning unshorn. Yellow orb to the heavens ascends, Sweet mantle of warmth now extends; […]

By Richard Bisson Something woke me. Was it the wind? I went to my bedroom window, the one Overlooking the naked cornfield. The moon was in its full face, and bright. The view was clear and I could see the border. What is the time? The moon overhead tells Me it is midnight. So bright […]

By Joel Ash Copyright 2000 by Joel D. Ash All Rights Reserved High taxes are taxing my wealth, Climaxing in drainage by stealth; Plans riddled with waste, Money piddled in haste, Axing waxing of financial health. Spending out of control and unwise, Programs tending to grow to large size; Nonsense never ending, High cost keeps […]

by Judy McCarthy He sits, sentry-like, on the low stonewall, surveying his domain like some Greek lord home from the wars, anxious to know if all’s well. I believe he is one of the horde of blind, petite babes, who emerged from halls of underground tunnels last spring, holes bored to allow escape to life […]