RHYMES WITH DUCK

Duck, duck, duck, duck
it would be so much better to be
hit by a truck
than stuck here
with you
baseball glove
broken sou
venir

AUGUST 24

The sun shines on
the just and the unjust
and the world
goes soldiering on

--2008

EVERGREEN

The orange light in the cemetery
made me slow and made me stop
I hoped to find a way inside
after passing the entrance that I knew
so I turned away and wound around
and found myself climbing the hill
to where the light was particularly mellow

It's the eighteenth of November
and finally cold enough for the leaves to die and fall
but I marvel at how the leaves on some trees
still remain green
while the sun falls just low enough
to let me see
and let me go
_____________________________________
* Previously published in the Fall-2008 issue of the Insight: Rivier Academic Journal 
http://www.rivier.edu/journal/RCOAJ-Fall-2008_table.htm

ISLANDS OF CONVENIENCE

I saw a man
in a red polo and a name tag
walking along the side of the highway
on his way to Burger King

I suppose he could bring his lunch
and eat it in the break room
rather than venture across asphalt   
for fast food and freedom

There is no siesta or sidewalk café
for this way of life
In this artificial community
with landscaped parking lots
and few footpaths
there is little beauty
and no rest
____________________________________
* Previously published in the Spring-2008 issue of the Insight: Rivier Academic Journal  http://www.rivier.edu/journal/RCOAJ_Spring_2008_table.htm

WHAT I REMEMBER

When my parents celebrated their 25th, I was two years old
I don’t remember much about their silver years
but I was around when their marriage turned to gold

I missed the floor casserole and Casey number one
I missed the neighborhood fairs and some of the fun
but I didn’t miss the family room or cutting down the tree
and I didn’t miss Enfield or throwing out the tea

I missed skating on the driveway and Dad’s muddy hair
but not Cursillo weekends or the LaSalette Fair
I missed the camping trip from hell and trips to Manomet
but not the camper trip from hell or visits to Cotuit

I missed some of the loving
but I missed some of the fighting
I witnessed the day my dad gave up drinking
because my life began the day my mom got drunk

I missed the day she kicked at him
when he was "horsing around" with force
I may have missed their wedding
but I thank God they missed their divorce

This is what I’ll remember
and what is forgotten, I’ll never miss
as far as the heavens are from the earth
in the sea of forgetfulness

--Written for the occasion of my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary, 2004 (with edits by my Mother, 2011)

WE BURNED WHITE-HOT

I can think of no other way to say it

After eighteen days
We said I love you

I made your heart bounce
You made me picnic lunches at work

After twenty five days
We made I love you

I wrote you extemporaneous poems
You sent me love songs through texts

After thirty days
We said I accept you

I painted you the Sacred Heart
You did my laundry

After fifty-six days
We said I want you

We played guitar
We played darts

I loved you
I let you go

I can think of no other way to say it

--August 25, 2008

I WANT IT ALL

I would be happy with him;
I would not be happy

I want more than he has to offer
I want what God has to offer

2008

Moon Poem #32

The moon is like a lemon slice
swung into a black Russian

clouds curdle as they pass by
her citrine face

FALLING

shedding you like clothes
as the weather's getting colder

it is easy to lose a layer in April
harder in October

--2009

YOU'LL ALWAYS BE A PART OF ME

I've stood in the rain
long enough
to wash away the silt of you

but the indelible mark
you've left
will always be on my skin

EXIT 18, MASS PIKE

as I round the corner
the concrete swells
and up from the ground you rise like a pop-up book
from the ruin to the rack
an organized destruction
one type of beauty for another

MOON POEM #15

I need you

the great white cymbal in the sky
rises for crescendo
in the hydgrangea blue

MOON POEM #14

streetlamps try to dazzle
but your amber glow
is all the more bright

and sparkles on the dark surface

A PAINFUL SUBJECT

driving down Main Street
is like walking down a papercut
in lemonade shoes

each step brings me past places
where we sat

and stood

and leaned

and talked

that awning saved us from the rain
but I wish we had run in it

TELL ME TRUE

don't tell me what I want to hear

tell me what I ought to hear
and long to hear
and need to hear

love me by telling me the truth

16

I fell in love with you on Bloomsday
when you fed me words
fallen from the pages you love

just days after you stole the sweet cake from my mouth

and i can still see the sun setting on Gibraltar
and feel the swell as i read your messages
though the birds have come and pecked the crumbs away

WANDERING AROUND COOLIDGE CORNER

I feel peeled and hollowed out

and as I drive
the wind whips by my haloed hair
and pulls me into romantic places:
movie theatres, bookstores, and coffeeshops
and a wish that I had someone to share this with

A DROP IN THE BUCKET

When your heart feels
like it has been whacked
with a meat tenderizer
[because he's so cute and tall]
it is difficult to respond--
to grab the chubby hand that swung--
and ask the guy in the Post Office line,
"So your t-shirt says you've been to
Shakespeare's Globe [so have I]
and your hat says you're a Director [so am I]--
What have you directed lately?"

So you don't
and you wish you did

MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR

fall is coming
with school and death
and i feel both
smart and romantic

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

I am so impatient for you to arrive
the party has already started
and Uncle Billy's BC Eagles hat hangs on the railing

days are passing and people are dying
would you please hurry up
and show up

before you miss everything
and everyone
I love

INTUITION

I know how it will feel when I find you
If only I can keep that feeling in mind
And practice it
So that when some counterfeit comes my way
I will know
That's not how I'm supposed to feel
That's not how it's supposed to be

I know you are not perfect
But I know that being with you
Will feel like I always thought it would
That I will be the most radiant bride

And I'd like to see that

A SLICE OF LIFE

I can't eat it all
but I can take bites of all the juiciest parts

you never really feel good
when you eat the whole cheeseburger
and all the fries
including the ones that are burnt to a crisp

just eat the icing off of that slice

or pick the strawberries off of that shortcake

and tie the cherry stem with my tongue

EITHER/OR

Like a phoenix
rising from the a--
or maybe this is going to be
the worst day ever

UNTITLED

Sometimes
I feel like I am wasting away
Unfulfilled

Where can I spend myself?

On you
On you
On you

You who love me totally
Wholly

If I ever believed you were real
Now is the time to believe it
If I ever said you were all that I needed
I need you now

Maybe I need to accept a future
Of desolation
And loneliness
To embrace a life that is neither of these things;
But that in you
Is both full
And fulfilled