Category: childhood
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Queuing at the Door, or, A Prayer for Bob Hinkle
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by
1) Fold your hands, bow your head, Shut your eyes and pray I would try, but no one said how to pray Just how to act like praying I wanted to know where to go, how many Steps to take, how many doors to open 2) Dad would get angry, If you cheated and opened…
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Hair tonic for men
Sunday morning rituals Polished shoes, dark socks, Dress pants, shirt, tie, Wear your damn belt, Comb that rat’s nest Go back and part your hair Do something with your cowlick You wanted Brylcreem “a little dab’ll do ya” But Dad used Vitalis Hair Tonic for Men He was bald on top You knew why he…
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Haiku Meditation on a Sunday Morning Sitting by the Remains of Last Night’s Fire with a Cup of Coffee Watching Birds in the Park Across the Street at Sunrise
1) Sunday morning shoes canvas loafers don’t need shined Dad would not approve 2) ash remembers fire when flames don’t stay the night trees filter morning 3) crow stares with one eye red birds forage for breakfast jays flash blue on green 4-18-21
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Stopping to feast along a gravel road
1) Rancid meat only vultures crave; they never wait their turn to tear flesh from bones of what remains. I slow down to avoid interrupting the feast and wonder, if vultures eat vulture roadkill or leave it for the crows. 2) On my office shelf sits mom’s old schoolbook, 101 Famous Poems, copyright 1929. Sometimes,…
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petal picking
Loves me Loves me not Loves me Loves me not Loves me Loves me not One petal Too few? One petal Too much? Love on a stem Scattered on ground 4-8-21
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wet paint
Before rain comes to fill my ears with neighborhood gossip, I gathered yard debris, admired the blooming azaleas, the last blood red camellia, I plan to sit outside on the porch, attempt, once more, to hack recursive algorithms, fractal Pollack patterns petals drip in homage on moss or maybe, I’ll take a nap. 3-31-21
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well water
This morning, I remember a dipper full of water from the well that stood in my grandparents’ yard that waited for me to visit, pump into a pail, carry inside and fill the basin that sat under the slant of stairs in their kitchen. I don’t remember discussions of germs on a shared dipper only…
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School yard shark
Cat eyes, milkies, puries, aggies, speckled whites and blues and blacks, a steely shooter my prized possession. I lost it to a chipped cat eye. He put it in his pocket and used the damaged shooter, until I wouldn’t wager anymore good marbles against his lucky one. He gathered up his winnings in a draw…
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spring cleaning
I slept in this morning, because Mom kept trying to contact me from her grave Pulling me back into a dream Laying on the guilt Something about Lent And spring cleaning the kitchen Dad was calling out Alice, leave the boy alone Turn out the light and come to bed But mom kept knocking at…
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poem for a climbing tree
When I was young I considered every tree a potential trunk to climb upon I have grown older but I still admire as I pass by your limbs proportion and form Imagine climbing up inside better than any boy before me You smile as I pass by whisper to the wind if I were not…
My husband's poetry 