On Reading Poetry

Its only a moment this reading of a verse or several.
a moment inside a moment
when an unrequited love is awash in tears.
 when a leaf falls and scrabbles before a chill wind.
when a child slams the screen door
 and offers you a handful of brilliant dandelions
 that fade and droop before supper.
or when the sun rises on your despair
 and sets on your contentment.
a moment inside a moment inside a moment.

Canasta at the cafe

Canasta for twelve

and Mahjong for two.

the society matrons

have taken tables

as they often must do.

lunch

then cards

and tea.

but no idle words distract.

hair carefully coiffed and colored.

dresses or slacks just so.

jewelry: understated.

make up tries to disguise

the faces that have fallen.

one glances at another

waiting a turn

fidgets with an earring,

restless to play.

cards shuffle, faint clattering

another sips at tea

and grimaces

perhaps its grown cold.

so passes the afternoon

in the Greek cafe

and later

they’ll pick up grandchildren

or steaks for dinner

or meet the mister for cocktails. 

Findings

I still find things
that remind me of her
a photo
a box of toys and bowls
a tuft of hair
and then the tears come
and a tightness in my chest.

I miss that old cat.  

Sixteen Again

Sixteen Again

Drove west to help a friend...

and put on The Byrds.

For nearly an hour

I was 16 again.

Volume up, bass thumping

Singing harmony with Jim and David

Turn Turn Turn

Mr. Tambourine Man

Anthems that had rocked my world.

I sang as only a 66 year old man

Can sing 50 year old songs

And I was 16 again.

Apple Picking

Apple Picking

Its a long drive to Romeo

just to pick apples

but

the sun shone all afternoon

and my wife was beside me

and the apples waited for us.

Our up stretched hands beckoned them.

Come down we said

and they did. 

We two

She plays the piano

and if I know the song

I’ll join her, singing.

Her fingers falter sometimes

and my voice,

well, its begun to falter too.

We are of an age

She and I.

May 1972

May 1972

After Dad died

          I had dreams about him

Still alive

and I would run to him

hug him deliriously

          Daddy, I would cry

and awaken, tear sodden.

Then one time I told him

Dad

          In my dream I told him

Dad

      you died

                  you can’t keep coming back.

 

And I never saw him anymore.