Charles Redner's Writings
View Charles’s Books | Read Charles’s other writings below.
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Poem
Dec.21.2011
Long-a-Coming
My relative was the organist for the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, when in 1868, the pastor asked him to write the music for his poem from an earlier trip to the Holy Land. Here, I record the events that transpired:
Birth of a Christmas Carol
by Charles Redner
For Phillips Brooks and Lewis H. Redner
Together as a single voice
children sing a hymn...
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Poem
Sep.11.2011
Long-a-Coming
The Sky Took Back the Space the Towers Borrowed
September 11, 2001—Berlin, New Jersey
The sky took back the space the towers borrowed
When the destructive forces rendered them unstable.
Three thousand souls ascended the holy rubble
While a nation looked on in horror and in sorrow.
Millions ’round the world stood stunned and shaken
As...
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Poem
Nov.05.2010
Guest AppraiserBy Charles Redner
My wife’s painting of a battered red truck
proudly hangs in her art society’s gallery
where a class, currently in session,
is painting a female model.
The artists appear at ease,
checking proportions, brushes at arm’s length,
splashing moistened pigments on canvas.
This is their norm.
But oh, so new to me.
I shift my eyes...
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Poem
Aug.04.2010
Long-a-Coming
Cheated on my wife yesterday.
Short changed my employer too.
It wasn’t the first time either.
Left work early, headed straight for a rendezvous.
The motor lodge perfectly situated midway between office and home.
Pulled into the lot, backed directly in front of room one-twenty
hiding my tag from street-side eyes. I’m experienced at this.
Looked up, mirrored the...
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Poem
Jul.28.2010
Elvis, the Beatles, and Joe Cocker
for Sonny Cohen
by Charles Redner
Sonny, a large man who looked down
on six-footers, spotted me from a block away.
Stood still, teeth flashing like a dozen diamonds
as I rapidly closed the distance between us.
When I reached the near-giant his mammoth
arms engulfed then...
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Poem
Jul.24.2010
Theft
I steal a word today from an authentic poet and playwright.
Normally, honest as well as truthful,
I confiscate it concomitantly as you read this confession.
Here, lifted right from his copy-protected work,
laboring like a magician or illusionist,
you will not perceive the theft.
And no, the poet will not be aware of my vile act
as he has already died,...
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Poem
Jul.15.2010
Cabin 20
May I have the pleasure?
May I have the pleasure, of killing the last vampire
or will the horrid, hordes slay us first?
When I am King, all in the realm will carry, at hand,
freshly bottled Holy water, mallet with wooden stake,
and a Pope-blessed crucifix.
When I am King, Buffy and True Blood will be banished,
along with novels coddling blood-sucking bats....
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About Charles
Redner is the publisher and executive editor of The Hummingbird Review, a new literary anthology (first issue Feb., 2010). Author of Down But Never Out, Open Books Press, 2010, a bio of boxing champ, Joey Giardello and relationship with his son born with Down...
Connections
Causes Charles Redner Supports
All Down syndrome associations, Buddy Walks in LA, Tucson and Orange Country CA
Charles is a fan of
