Susanna Rich
Paranoid
Noir air raid din
Pandora ordain
nadir aria
on no-and-nor podia
poniard pin pain
a pirana nip
a rod prod
pan Pan
pan AARP
no aid no prana
no pro nod no inroad
no noon
an AI id
rapid dip
drop drip drain
arid radio rain
an ado
dodo dada
oar in doo
OD on pop porn
nada pro
no ora pro
no pardon
oi
Thunder
Thud thudder rrrrr
under thud tuned to
dunderhed—
hurt true, rend thru,
red dude trend,
Eden hunted, turn
herd, hunted nerd,
the hunter the herd
tuned rude—rued
turd trend, the runt,
the ether teeter
net tether tête
The tender rued,
tree deterred
the there-here-there
dddddtttrrrrr
due then, thru
the true, then truer
trued, rudder returned,
e’er errer end.
Violet
O, little lei,
velvet tilt,
Ole! Ole!
Toil to vet evil,
vet TV
vote olive ~~
Level vile.
Level Lotto.
Veto
lie lie lie.
Vie elite—
toe to toe—
et too,
et too it.
Toilette toilet.
Tell! Tell! Tell!
Till vitel vittle
Evite olio.
Volt lit,
it’ll tittle.
Oil viol love!
Live.
Coinage
Once on an age
AI, CGI coin
a cage.
A I A I O
Gain Cain, aga con,
ego gogo on ‘n’ on
inane congece
Cig aee! Cig aee!
Eco Agonee,
nice age gone,
ciao iconic
Aegean ocean.
No cogi-O no-no—
gag gae, gage GI.
Go cine O go O go.
E I E I O
Nag, can, ice ICE.
Onion goon.
Canoe? Canoe
O Cean? Cean?
Go nice—anee—
GaGa, Can-Can—
Ace noggin.
E I E I O O O
Earth
Hear the heart,
the heart tear.
The retreat.
Rat hate her.
Hater rath—
heat, heat ether,
rate her, eat her.
Theater. Theater.
Rhea, hart, hare
rear,
tear, retear.
Retreat.
Hearth teeter.
Rather tether.
Ear the art,
the tart art,
the rare art,
the attar—
treat her
heart her.
Susanna Rich is a bilingual Hungarian-American poet and translator, a Fulbright Fellow in Creative Writing (Hungary), a Collegium Budapest Fellow, and Distinguished Professor Emerita of English at Kean University (NJ). With two Emmy Award nominations for poetry, Susanna is founding producer and principal performer at Wild Nights Productions, LLC. Her repertoire includes the musical Shakespeare’s *itches: The Women v. Will and ashes, ashes: A Poet Responds to the Shoah. Susanna is author of five poetry collections, most recently Beware the House and SHOUT! Poetry for Suffrage.