The Poetry Marathon

Spacey

When I was a kid
space was cool
the 60’s found us
amidst a
‘space race’
which we won,
landing on the moon
the summer I was ten

A few short years later
we were spaced out
taking trips of
cosmic variety
without ever leaving
our paneled, basement
rec rooms

adulthood and its
attendant
responsibilities
had us all
needing some space
so we looked,
fitfully
trying to find some

now middle age
has come, gone –
I think
you were
saying something –
right?

sorry
I guess I just
spaced it out

Hour 19–Final Touch

Titanium in orbit

won’t withstand reentry

a wrench lost is gone

tumbling

slowing

tipping

surrendering

a meteor now

launched by my glove

watch from on high

like the angels

 

 

Everybody’s Gotta Story…

A page in time

Finished Windows inked firmly

Time for the next stage in life

A wake up call, fill the bucket, check your list

Have a new story to tell

not your last rites

Splendor In the grass all over the place

smoke a little too

Absolutely live like the last days

It’s not all black and white

make grey

Like a script

Be that suspenseful and use

Imagination of that Indy film we live

accept your academy award

you did your best

and see you next year

tonight, I get lucky

win and won

as

one

My dad collects cherry seeds

My dad collects cherry seeds

 

stores them in his old Nestle

bottle, its inch of water

reddened with pulp and extra

saliva. He pitted cherries

with his tongue, brimmed his mouth

with dozens of seeds and spit.

They tumbled through his yellowed

teeth and splash and live and bleed.

HOUR6

Que sera, sera/What will be, will be

 

A puppet or a puppeteer?

Which suits you better?

What do you choose?

Will you be with the pack?

Or a lonely and powerless wolf?

 

Will you sing in front of a crowd?

Or will you keep your talent only for you?

Will you be a guide for someone in need?

Or will you always hide in the shadow?

 

Will you be a great teacher or only a good student?

Will you fly high or hide behind the bushes?

Do you think that you have the answer to this?

No, you don’t, because only the future has it!

Meanwhile, you can wonder as long as you want que sera!!!

18. Tea

“Tea, Please,” he ordered.
She thought it unusual that someone as rugged looking
As him ordering tea
She followed him with her eyes as he sat in the middle of the cafe
at a table meant for two
She must have stared too long or too hard
For he looked right into her eyes and smiled
She quickly looked away as she was accustomed to
Then she looked up again and this time smiled back
And mouthed the words
“I see you”

Crushing

You’re all I seem to think about

What if I said it scares me too?

Always expect you to be strong.

So afraid to feel anything.

You entered my life and changed everything.

There is nothing I want more

I am more afraid of wasting this precious time then of what you bring

The last time I love this hard he was the wrong guy.

Imagine the Empire I could build with the right guy.

Mister Right Guy no more Mr. Right Now.

#19

Lanterns light the way

Dark nights

with lanterns glowing

showing the way

the light will lead us

The Cubs Den

There’s a place that I can only visit in my mind

to get there, I travel back in time

Where PF Flyers were all the rage

And long hot summers filled my days

You’er invited, I’ll be your escort

to our clubhouse under grandma’s porch

It was just us neighborhood kids that created our new digs

We laughed and played and came of age

under grandma’s porch

Hour Nineteen

You’re fastening the buttons one by one,
or are you unfastening them?

On the edge of your bed, I’m mid-urging
– to what, I can’t say, I’ve lost track.
You have been the master of self-government,
but there you are.
It’s a complicated match.