The Poetry Marathon

I was an actor

I was going places

I stepped up into the shoeshine stand

in the lobby of 30 Rockefeller Center

up high where important people sat

In my youthful hubris

I knew this is where I belonged

I vowed I’d never shine my own shoes again

This was almost true

for a certain period of time

but this oath proved to be premature

An alternate island called to me

No need for shoeshine these days

where I live

no shoes required

I wear slippers

My participle is dangling

my modifier misplaced

look under the hood

supercharger disgraced

un-muddy the waters

that flow through the brain

and ring in the new year

with a merry refrain

If coffee can do

what coffee say do

I’ll make it to nineteen

and so will you

It’s not often

not ever

that you see a BMW

with a fishing pole

on the roof rack

but there it was

in line at the Jack-in-the-Box drive-thru

It had a modest fishing hook dangling

tied to the tip of the rod by nylon line

a short piece that did not extend

to the reel

The car was not old/not new

the vapor clouding out the driver’s window

messing with my stereotype

Who was he trying to kid?

Not my question to ask

Each person on Maui

each car

each fishing pole

engaged in reinvention

with a pile of used-to-be’s

crowding the rear-view mirror

this included me

I was not immune to the view

The screen is loose on the window I rarely open

Through it comes the busy whoosh of the shoreline

Wave sounds indistinguishable from the next

A helicopter pulls its gentle growl across the northeast sky

flightpath passing close to our neighborhood

Rock doves coo

The other window offers additional sound

Birds I can’t name chirp

Roosters announce dominion one street over

A cheep, an electronic device indicates a delivery for someone

The background wash of a busy street two blocks away

a dog barks

and somewhere in Alaska kolea, the golden plover

remembers Hawaii

and the migratory drive which will

convey it to our state for the winter

a welcome link between First Nations

Coffee

7-Up

Water

An embarrassment of Peanut M&M’s

Deli turkey on croissant sandwich with Caesar salad on the side

Peanut butter pretzels

More water

Water

As if possible, more Peanut M&M’s

Next up, via my gracious wife, rotisserie chicken with a scrumptious side dish or two

See what happens when I’m let loose in the marathon zoo?

Sharia law rules America

Our shameless reel us backwards

Clean the slate please

Brother boy, that ain’t just rain

Not here on Maui

I got the deal here, that’s my refrain

I don’t lie to none of Jesus’ friends

gift of the gods I tell ya

and we drink to no ends

comes from the sky

the mountains too

‘Tis excitable water make the sky sing blue

and lights up the heavens

with color galore

evidence abounds and I’ll tell you more

but here’s the secret

‘case you ain’t guessed

rain is Rainbow Juice Ha!

and we like it best

Maui No Ka Oi, Buzzy

Melinda, your mic is off

Lisa, would you aim your camera so we can see your whole face?

This is how I want it

I’m hiding out

Do I go now? Who’s next?

I’m just listening today

Gwen, you’re muted

No, Hawaii doesn’t do Daylight Savings Time

Manny, can you hear us?

Robin, do you have a poem for us?

Renee, you’re muted

I’m not wearing pants

What time is it there?

Where’d Melinda go?

Who would like to share?

Skylar, are you really here?

I thought we were starting at 5.

Buster Keaton lay weighed down on the cow catcher

of the General with a railroad tie in his lap

With no engineer in place

the train chugged forward toward a tie lying atop the track

sure to cause derailment

Our hero! Our hero!

his arms full

chucked the tie precisely

flipping the loose tie off to the side

My dad burst forth with a guffaw I can hear to this day

1.

At work one evening

a white shape beneath green foliage

caught my eye

across the street

at the edge of the golf course

I crossed over

to investigate

I pushed aside greenery

to find a pile of quicklime

with a deer skull sticking out of it

no doubt someone’s scheme

for subduing the stink of a carcass

Why not encase the dead deer

rather than remove it?

I stood with my hands behind my back

leaning in

wondering at this sculpture

white skull protruding

from white hardened material

and I recalled Michelangelo’s idea:

I did not sculpt a deer

rather I removed the stone that was not deer

2.

As I approached work in my car

a white shape against green foliage

caught my eye

I noticed the white cattle egret

standing on the grassy shoulder

across the street

wings behind its back

leaning in

investigating a roadside cross

that had been erected

in memory of a young woman

who’d been killed by a truck there

There was much to examine:

flowers and photos

and poems and remembrances

and trinkets

The egret remained there

focused

in position

as I drove past