Maybe I should be more forgiving,
compliment the aging lady
who lives in her car,
sits alone on a bench
at the town square,
empty jar by her feet,
everyday
for hours
with her old, pink guitar,
and who sings off key. I’m sure
God has reasons for creating
the tone-deaf,
as our world is not all music,
and humans fill the earth
with discord,
while angels long for harmony.
Yvette A. Schnoeker-Shorb is the author of Shapes That Stay (Kelsay Books). Her poetry has appeared in Slipstream Magazine, New York Quarterly, Camas: The Nature of the West, About Place Journal, AJN: The American Journal of Nursing, Grey Matter: An Anthology of Medical Poetry, and many other publications. She is co-founder of the late 501(c)(3) natural-history nonprofit Native West Press (2005-2025) and lives in the Central Highlands of Arizona with her husband, numerous peccaries, two bobcats, and an assortment of jays, ravens, and hawks.
