24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
For about 27 years my adult life has been enriched immeasurably by my friends and co-conspirators in the Maui Live Poets Society. It is through these exceptional folks that I've blossomed as a poet. Best of all, my loving wife Cindy Albers and I met through MLPS. Cindy--a truly accomplished writer and poet--and I both will be pounding out poems on our respective laptops here on the windward shore of Maui. (Already I feel the need for a nap.) Once again, thank you to Caitlin and Jacob and the other volunteers for this sterling opportunity! Good luck to us all! Big Group Hug, waldomaui (sometimes known as Bear)
It had waxed prosperous in 1842
what remained were Savannah brick chimney stacks
erect even now
masked by wisteria, soon kudzu
August heat bore down
the only light from lethargic fireflies
zooming their own strange code
a white boy passing by in a car from the north
noticed
O, Captain, my Captain!
Our scream wave half ship left tended
blow tornado blow! half ship entropy metal partay
right soon half ship anchor ear-bell prithee
hear-bell thy kit-kat chorus
dash dash lookie half ship equals for sooth
duh face on guard
down wash in lysol
distance hands by all means
touch don’t mask subsection
do not panic at least
disinfect lock latex
instructions follow 20 seconds
paragraph 6 glove apart
don’t cough
inject home social feet pump
stay covid gas home soap isolate
quarantine your face whenever possible
furthermore cover your sanitizer
aforementioned workers
19 essential glove distance cart
insta-curfew if need be
meditate
vaccine pump face
repeat
is that clear?
summer sun on bare shoulders
rowboat on glassy reservoir
surrounded by woods
fat blue crystals of copper sulfate
dangled overboard in a burlap sack
dissolving
row back and forth
dissolving
over and over
oars pumping
forward movement
creates the only breeze
sweat tingles
sun burns
transistor plays Brandy
over and over
They gather after midnight
just beyond the fence line
my tongue clicking as loud as can be
is the signal
They try to be patient
but are hungry and they squabble
momentarily as I divvy dry food
and canned onto paper dish and
heart-shaped leaves picked for the occasion
I spread what banquet there is before them
In the dark I hear the crunching noises
the small grunts of satisfaction
the quiet scraping of paper plate against pavement
I do what I can for my friends
I lean my bare arms against the gate
white painted metal cool to skin
surrender some of my weight to it
and take in the dark sky
This is all I need
this ritual this mystery
this communion
To someone we are unwanted
unimportant
we are cats
refugees all
It’s what you might expect
at a rough and tumble spot
not a beach
but a graveled slope where dead-end meets Pacific
Surfers dodge driftwood big chunks here
so of course that’s what it’s made of this cross
held together with sea twine and brown lei
Underneath all local-style are gifts to the dead
a bottle of beer with a rusted cap
a bottle a water
and
what surprised me
a fresh black book that says
Holy Bible
unharmed by the spray
I sat in my car at Wendy’s
wolfing my burger of choice
and spied a be-bopping character
prancing in silent rejoice
across the street he held aloft in one hand a take-out container all shiny
his other arm akimbo a homeless tour de force
A happy mathematical genius he was!
forward and back he shabby sashshaying
his lips they protruded, mick jiggering dude-head
Excited he was over this salad he was
a twixting the sidewalk between Island Honda and 7-Eleven
slow progress he made destination uncertain
celebration parading
in joyful tirading
nearly tumbling onto the street
A happy mathematical genius he was!
Now it didn’t appear to be salad
not that particular cut to its jib
my perception corrected it was a pie-plate it was
mouth-watering pie is what I spied
Indeed it was pie he held on high
Good God, one and all, it’s Pi Day!
A happy mathematical wonder he was!
That night after the commotion
I found my moon imprisoned
behind a chin-link fence
thanks to neighbors
who had money for such things
from my bed confined
That one window my only
the moon my recurring
companion
my visitor in the dark
if clouds showed mercy
so immediate
so full of sensibles
of my youth
Granted the view was
imperfect already
through salted pane
corroded screen
and eyeglass smudges
(when I bothered the fumbling)
but
this shiny new fence
mocked my simple need
adding a new layer between
me and her face
the one I remembered tucked
under a warm coat on a chill evening
in the autumn behind the dorm
back when autumn held
possibilities
we all are aware
that
a cop would never
press his blue knee
down
on the white neck
of an Ivy-Leaguer
Looking forward to the 2020 marathon, due to begin in about 7 hours. Trying to refresh my memory here on how to post. One year ago I missed the marathon because of a serious illness–I was laid out flat in bed here on the north shore of Maui as my wife, Cindy Albers, labored away cranking out 24 worthy poems. I was crushed having to be sidelined from the burst of global creativity and connectivity, but this year I am ready.
This will be my fourth marathon, my third full marathon. I don’t write very often, so, as I’ve stated in the past, the marathon is just the kick in the pants I need to shake out some new work. Good luck to us all!
Big Group Hug,
waldomaui (sometimes known as Bear)