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Doug Holder

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We Hold Hands

At dusk
we hold hands.
We hold hands,
with  fading
tarnished rings.

As if some
unexpected storm
could suddenly
separate us forever.

We listen to the muted horn
the hint of some heroin-tainted voice
we clink our cocktails
the house cat
another appendage between us.

And the light grows dimmer
as it always does.

Doug Holder is the founder of the Ibbetson Street Press of Somerville, MA. He has recently collaborated with playwright Lawrence Kessenich on a new play based on a short story he wrote "The Patient." It is going to be published by the Presa Press, and  has had a staged reading at the Playwright's Platform in the Boston area. Holder's poem " Oh Don't She Said, It's Cold" adapted into a song by singer/songwriter Jennifer Matthews, will be preformed by the dance company "text moves" in the fall at various venues in the area. Holder is the arts editor of The Somerville Times, and teaches writing at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, and Endicott College in Beverly, MA. He holds an MLA in literature from Harvard University. (Photo is a painting by Bridget S. Galway.)

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