"At A Bach Concert," by Adrienne Rich

"Democracy Today," by Hans Ostrom

"The Broken Oar," by Henry Wadsworth Longellow

Concerning Angst

I think of angst as a soft metal.
You try to worry it into something
decorative and useful--
ring, cup--and it resists by being
too malleable. Its color mixes
gray and brown.

Some company delivers a load
of angst to you. You swear
you didn't order it. It gets
dumped anyway. Your mind

writhes inside itself like a snake
inside an egg. "Oh, God," you say,
not even meaning to pray. Oh,
that is angst for you.

Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom

"Official Correspondence," by Hans Ostrom

"A Bar at the Folies-Bergère," by Hans Ostrom

"For Metro Riders," by Hans Ostrom

"Destiny," by Herman Hesse

"Excavation," by K.B. Imle

"The Ordinary Man," by Robert W. Service

"Walk," by Charles Bukowski

"To Those Without Pity," by Edna St. Vincent Millay

"Feast," by Edna St. Vincent Millay