National Poetry Month: Terry Collett

"Judge Not"
(Terry Collett)


"Judge not," said Preacher Judd,
His voice high like a woman squeezed,
His face flushed like ripe tomatoes.

"Because how you judge
Is how you'll be judged.
Hard with hard, cruel with cruel."

And running his fingers around
The black rim of his felt hat,
He pushed through the crowd

To the thin knickerless girl
Who'd been caught in copulation
Or some such operation

Or so was rumoured,
Amidst stone holding and jeering
And human touch as this.

And placing his hat on his dull head said:
"What's needed is love
And close looking at each to each,"

And strolled off with the girl and his hat
Rising and falling like a ship at sea.

TERRY COLLETT has been writing since 1971. He has had two slim volumes of poems published in 1974 and 1978. Currently, his poetry appears frequently in many online magazines including Levi Asher's Literary Kicks. "Judge Not" appeared December 2011 online at Thick With Conviction.