I used to have scary nightmares
but now, my daymares are worse.
I’m too old to dream green fields
and flowers and cute animals.
I daydream explosions,
nuclear fallout, scant food supplies,
and orphaned children.
I wonder if I could buy back
the pretty things I used to think of
Maybe a dusty old shop
in the sad part of town might have them.
I don’t like being too old
for pretty things I thought
had no age limit.
About the Author
Martina Reisz Newberry is the author of 7 books of poetry. Her most recent book is “Sadie: Queen of the Swollen Nose Saloon” (Alien Buddha Press, April 2025). She is also the author of “Beyond Temples,” (Deerbrook Editions, May 2024), “Glyphs,” (Deerbrook Editions, May 2022) “ Blues for French Roast with Chicory, (Deerbrook Editions, February 2020), the author of Never Completely Awake ( from Deerbrook Editions ), Where It Goes (Deerbrook Editions, August 2014), “Learning by Rote.” (Deerbrook Editions, May 2012), “Running Like a Woman with Her Hair on Fire.” (Red Hen Press, September 2005), and “Take the Long Way Home,” (Unsolicited Press, August 2017).
Newberry has been included in The Cenacle, Cog, Blue Nib, Braided Way, Roanoak Review, THAT Literary Review, Mortar Magazine, and many other literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad.
Her work is included in the anthologies Marin Poetry Center Anthology, Moontide Press Horror Anthology, A Decade of Sundays: L.A.’s Second Sunday Poetry Series-The First Ten Years and many others.
She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo Colony for the Arts, Djerassi Colony for the Arts, and Anderson Center for Disciplinary Arts.
Passionate in her love for Los Angeles, Martina currently lives there with her husband, Brian, a Media Creative. Her city often is a “player” in her poems.
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