Special Delivery

A short thought about debt and duty.

                                       Special Delivery

                             Mornings when I walk the dog
                             with a plastic bag in one hand
                             and the VISA bill in the other,
                             I have to remind myself which
                             to put in the mail box
                             and which to flush at home.

Waltz of Love

Heard Amy Beach's "Waltz of Love" on the radio as I was going to work last week and was struck by how unpredictable it was, at least to a layman's ear.  No steady Straussian 1-2-3, 1-2-3 here. And then I began to think how all those variations  - accelerations, heistations, alternations, etc.- are more like love, more like the human heart, which is less mechanical and more responsive than a metronome.

                  “Waltz of Love”
                                    on hearing the piece by Amy Beach
           Lovely for listening
                   but difficult to dance
                             to any
                            conventional count –
                                                the rhythm
                                                  more expressive than
                                                                  regular, requiring
                                                                         the couple to intuit, antici-
                                                                                                        pate, alter
                                                                                                                       nate
                                                                                                          sep a rate
                                                                                          andrecombine.
                                                                                    Hesitate
                                                                          syncopate
                                                                      solo
                                                                   spin
                                               then intertwine.
                                such ebb and flow
                                       lovers know
                                            blurs the line
                                                    between
                                                          yoursandmine
                                                                 and makes the dancers
                                                                                         and the dance
                                                                                                 more human
                                                                                                              and divine.

5:00 AM

Just an image.  May not be a poem yet.

    5:00 AM

Two joggers with headlamps
lope down the early morning
street in colored tights and matching
vests, like oddly fashionable
female miners eager to get
to work, keeping just ahead
of the darkness following
them in the hour before dawn.

Tautologies

Tautologies

I remember everything
I don’t forget.
I seldom know people
I haven’t met.
I’ve never done the things
I haven’t done yet.
And I’m sorry for
all the things I regret.

Circe

Another mythology poem. I wrote it a while ago, but it seems I never posted it.

               Circe

Can I help it if men are pigs?
They blame it on my wand, my wiles,
my wantonness, but I merely
show them the way they were
already headed; I simply herd the swine
and tame the wild stallions before
they meet a fitting fate – all but
Odysseus, whose resistance
proved irresistible, who loved
me and left me here, big-bellied
and broken-hearted, wondering
if there truly are other fish in the sea.

Gardening Tips

Another spring poem.

      Gardening Tips

               1.
The final frost always comes
after the first flower.

               2.
If you dig a garden
where the lawn has died,
that’s when the grass will grow.

             3.
When placing stepping stones,
clear a way wider
than the path you think
you’ll walk.

           4.
Almost level
is near enough.
The stones will settle
where they want to be.

          5.
Nothing is as boring
as a straight line.

         6.
Beneath the weed barrier
and the mulch,
the dandelion still dreams
of the sun.

        7.
It only rains right
after you’ve watered.

        8.
Potted plants are simpler
to grow but harder
to leave alone.

Spring in His Step

Yes, I bought some new sneakers.

   Spring in His Step

On a day when March seems more like May,
an old man’s fancy turns to shoes,
not for work but just for play –
to kick aside these winter blues
(and banish boots to closet’s back).
Though there are colder days to come,
today he’ll buy what he does lack –
running shoes that will let him run
down the long drive and halfway back.