Many of these are Shannon's poems that were published in the junior college writing booklet.
Autumn
Autumn with red leaves
Limply lying on weak stems
Then lightly drifting
*********************
Aftermath
All the storm clouds are gone
From the sky where they rested
While God tipped his hands and let
The rain pour
Miniature falls of sparkling
White lace edge dirty gray
Cement jumbled together
By age
Pure clear rainbows shoot
Forth from the falls with
Brilliance undimmed by the
Unrelenting gray
Small traces remain of the
Storm that has been, fly-by-night
Splashes, damp and rime in a
Sun-hungry land
**********************
Butterfly
Danger, small butterfly
For life has given you beauty
Tinier than most
************************
Cardinal
A flash, a blur, a
Cardinal stirs the emerald
Leaves against the sky
*****************************
Cemetary: An Anthology
Identical Days
Copper-flavored trunks of
Stiff, unhappy pines stand
In lines, unending like the
Grave plots lying in
Stern, unyielding rows
With markers etched,
The same name and all
The same date.
Loving Hands
Her father lies and so lies
She below a sun-dappled
Hill, and memorials dot
The low-lying land, in a place
That sees the tranquil earth.
Indian Death Song
Valley walls hold the sacred
Trust of the Great Spirit.
The harsh wind tears a feather
from the bonnet of a long
Dead chieftain and the ancient
Trees move protesting the
Entry of outsiders into their
Burial ground.
Restless Man
Restless man, laid to rest
Atop the sand, "Killed of thirst
For savin' me", on a crude
Wooden cross that defies
The brutal wind and sand
As they endeavor to erase
Any memory of the man.