Streetcorner Poems, etc.

Friday, July 1, 2022

To Have and Hold

It sounds a bit possessive

Though at this point being had and held

Seems right. It was as I remember it

A promise of reciprocal possession

And the holding sounded sweet. It is.

I hear you breathe above the constant

Crickets there between my failing ears

As morning light begins to slip around

The bedroom window blinds.

I’ll breathe with you a little longer

Here then quietly I’ll rise to just

Another day to have and hold.

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

The Winnowing

At last

We are the bits of all there is

That we retain

The gathered spoonsful of

The universe that make their way

To where and when we are

A drooping frog-green leaf

Of my magnolia tastes the pane

Outside my dining room the

Gentle breeze a gift

And I move on within the

Warm sweet maelstrom

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Just Now

I turned just now and saw you touch my knee

With all four fingertips as I drove through

The light Seattle mist the wipers set to slow

And as I did a young girl missed a bus

Because the bakery was busy and

Another doodle dog of some sort

Found a friend and lit a spark along

Two leashes and the car ahead

Had signaled left but after hesitating

Took a right and somewhere someone

Saw that they had set the world akimbo as

I marvel at the sweet infinity of choice and

Accident that brought my knee to where

Your fingertips could find it then just now.

Friday, April 1, 2022

Lots of Time

I know there’s lots of time left but before

I pass to just the eddies where your

Memories reside and nothing more is

Added to the swirl I want you boys

Each one of you to brighten up a few

Of them

Those sounds and pictures in your heads

To be the way they might have been

As though I threw a better spiral

Had the words and sang in key

Held you longer in your hurt

Or knew just what to say that time.

So each of you to please do your part

To keep me ever better in your heart.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Crow

A glistening wet crow alighted roughly

Confidently

Upon a run of fence beside my garden

Strutting along its vantage

Cars hiss by beyond the sidewalk

To its left

The crow will step and stop turn its head

Decide not to fly away just yet

According to its unchosen agenda

As lived out by

Its own thousand choices

I’ve stood at the center of the

Philippine Sea and sat on this

Doorstep by the same rules

The soft mist wets the crow and

Wets my boots as they

Protrude beyond the coverage of the

Short porch

We share the dampness

Our hearts full

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Song

Wrap your tiny hands around my little finger

Feel my ancient pulse beside you as we linger

You and I

Along the by and by

I’d like to know what’s really on your mind

How your little boy thinking is inclined

If I was there behind your eyes

What a sweet surprise

I’d like to know what’s really on your mind

Turn your eyes my way I wonder what you’d say

You know I love you in my old man way