frog vs toad

Julia Rohan Zoch

Julia Rohan Zoch

Plains Spadefoot Toad
by Tom Hennen

Toads are smarter than frogs. Like all of us who are not good-
looking they have to rely on their wits. A woman around the
beginning of the last century who was in love with frogs wrote
a wonderful book on frogs and toads. In it she says if you place
a frog and a toad on a table they will both hop. The toad will
stop just at the table’s edge, but the frog with its smooth skin
and pretty eyes will leap with all its beauty out into nothing-
ness. I tried it out on my kitchen table and it is true. That may
explain why toads live twice as long as frogs. Frogs are better at
romance though. A pair of spring peepers were once observed
whispering sweet nothings for thirty-four hours. Not by me.
The toad and I have not moved.
 
Tom Hennen, “Plains Spadefoot Toad” from Darkness Sticks to Everything: Collected and New Poems. Copyright © 2013 by Tom Hennen.

Snowboy

illustrator: Julia Rohan Zoch

frozen tail

frozen scarf

frozen eyes

music ears

frozen nose

all that sticks out

succumbs

Oy Joy!

illustrator: Julia Rohan Zoch

 

“joy”

(Poem of the month Jan 2020)

“oy!”
“joy” cloys
to my homeboy’s
pageboy.

decoys
houseboy
from poi-poi…
oy!

annoys
Roy;
deploys
decoy.

enjoys
toys,
corduroys,
ploys!

It’s all:
foi
(freedom of information)

poem by Jeanne

era

illustration by Julia Rohan Zoch

the aura of an era

 

each era takes the error of its period

turns it notable and distinctive

gives birth to a new aspect, event, or period of time

a milestone

an epoch.

it is not a number , but a chronology of values,

reaffirmed in all their glory

 

it is a new reckoning.

breath it in –

and blow forward.

poem by Jeanne

avoiding the mad rush

illustrator: JRZ

 

just for today

I’m wearing my specs

carrying a hat

polished shoes

cane

tail coat

ruffled collar

red vest

……

going formal frog

with wings transparent!