Hello, everybody, this is my final piece for my term as Racine Writer in Residence. I would like to thank the Racine Literacy Council for this opportunity. It has been a pleasure to share my work with all of you. These last six months have gone by fast and this position has kept me busy in the best of ways. I would like to welcome in the next WIR and tell them it’s a great ride. All the best. -Joe

by Joe Engel

There is a bell ringing 

Between the stallion’s

Teeth at noon, 

As green hills hide

Their shadows and stand up

To the sky.  I see their patience

While the sun invokes a sharpness 

In the smell of pine

Behind me, slapping

Back dreams like actors;

Ether phasing out

A  window…  Now

Drops of water hold

 Light on wet leaves, breathe 

Toward boiling points, fire

Fused the way the world casts

Out darkness on a desert;

Whore of light as certain

As the seasons catch and bare

Each days muddy tongue

And newfound teeth 

In a glove of colorful scraps, 

A collage of fallen

Stars in the dumpster, it’s true

There is a bell ringing

Between the stallion’s

Teeth at noon.