Category: friends
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Church of glowing wood
October autumn night moonlight and street lamps we gather in the side yard with friends around a fire Offer fallen wood to the dark smell smoke….. incense for the dead, the dying and those who tend the dying before it is their time As folks rise to go home we offer virtual handshakes, bank embers,…
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a walk at dusk
yellow rose western sky in the East Aegean blue long shadow walk I heard the day before an old friend’s wife transitioned her name was Rose blue sky morning transitions to rain 9-28-20 (for my childhood friend, Chuck Shannon)
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Wade in the Water, But Keep Your Matches Dry
Eighteen years old, we sat cross-legged in Arts Terrace grass Smoked pot and spoke of past lives Parents, teachers and preachers who told us what to think She confided that at fourteen she was born again Baptized in a fiberglass church sanctuary River Jordan Congregation watching, a choir ready to sing on cue I told…
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Drapes
today I don’t know why but today I thought of you and wondered why today one day the house was empty the next day it was not drapes in every window we must have been fifteen you moved into a house on Osage I was your paperboy the Journal & Courier sent a note to…
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Adverbs
In our COVID-19 quarantine world, existence is sedentary. We watch dog walkers all day, family walkers in the evening. We wave and exchange greetings from a safe distance. Occasionally, in faded yellow lawn chairs someone stops, sits and talks across your fire pit from ten feet away You feed them lethargy, pour adverbs over stacks…
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For Riva’s Franma
I’ve inhaled the last third of my half of low country blueberry pie Licked my fingers the four pronged fork and fed squirrels the crust With sugared lips and purple poop I return sated to ketosis 8-6-20
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Rain
Checking in with a friend a single mom. a public school teacher. She’s worried about her daughter and her job; afraid that one of them could end up sick in this pandemic. She wants to quarantine at home and can’t. She needs her job and they need each other. I listen to her as rain…
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Time shifter
In the back aisle of the grocery I saw you from behind Long stride, hunched shoulders shaggy dark hair _____ I followed to be sure it was you Near the checkout you turned Sad, kind, thoughtful eyes You smiled as you looked away _____ It’s been a couple of years since The night they found…
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poem for a friend
On a log pile by a fire pit On a log with lichen clings a lone cicada husk Split in the back for you to flee A life that’s grown too small you flee into green canopy And sing incessantly to be found To be loved before a change of seasons 7-20-20
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Barefoot on my daughter’s front porch
Tired and hungry from the night Mustapha whines at the back porch screen. It is my daughter’s house so I won’t let him in I want to listen to birds and sip my coffee quietly before the sun and grand kids rise. I tell him to hush, go somewhere else. He continues his mewling high…
My husband's poetry 