It's time again for August Postcard madness! I love the PoPo to close out the summer months and thanks to Paul Nelson for introducing me to this poem-a-day event, so many years ago. I now have a bulging shoebox of postcards from all over the world, postmarked with endless Augusts.
Poetry is an opportunity for me to not just express myself in free verse or poetic forms, it helps with my prose writing, to keep the juices flowing and spark the imagination. I also have the chance to share postcards collected from estate sales, galleries, museums, bookstores. There are those I have a hard time parting with, but keeping them in my blog, I can always see them and know where to find them! Apparently, according to my count, a couple went missing and I have no record of them, so it you received a card from me that isn't here, please let me know.
Some of these poems are inspired by the postcard that delivers them; others are the result of spontaneous inspirations. I made a couple of my postcards this year and plan to do more next year. There is a slight amount of editing, but these postcard poems are mostly in their original form.
Thanks for reading.
HIS MAMA'S EYELINER
It was his mama's eyeliner
Then he learnt to buy his own
Tender twelve-year-old fingers plucking at a cheap tinny guitar
A magic sound matched with an angel's voice
Singing praise to God, rolling holy
'Til the music shook him to his soul
And he shared it with the world
Guns and other stuff came later
(About this postcard. This is an Andy Warhol painting that currently hangs at Seattle Art Museum. To learn more about Elvis and Andy, Christie's has a great commentary on the 22 Warhol Elvis pieces.)
~~~
DAUGHTER OF DAUGHTERS
You, daughter of daughters:
I have stood on your sacred earth.
Held your holy dirt in my hand
while it slid from my palm
like history passing.
I breathed into my body your ocean smell,
like the heaven you hold in your hair.
~~~
A WORLD FULL OF BEGGERS
We lost everything
Thanks to your clever
Genius Financing
and a
poison that invaded your Blood, Spine, Brain, Lungs,
Every
Thing.
And left us emptyhanded
in a world
full of beggars.
~~~
THE WAY YOU ATE YOUR EGGS
I never made fun of the way you ate your eggs.
You drunk-cried more than anyone I ever knew.
I told them to not mock you.
I wondered why
all the sorrow?
We shared mornings,
phone call check-ins, stupid jokes,
and the train card game.
You left me gaping.
~~~
X MARKS THE SPOT
X marks the spot
You are here
Close your eyes and
acknowledge
Invasion
unholy insidious enduring indefinite
Be Brave
Allow your tears to fall
~~~
FLOWERS WAITING TO BLOOM
Do you know the songs unsung?
Are they circling round your skull like
a wreath of flower buds, waiting to
bloom, waiting to
blow away gloom, heralding a day
we can embrace with fragrant glowing strains?
~~~
WHEN WE COULD REALLY DRINK
We had the Pink Door, in a smokey alley, with the scent of salty air misting on the autumn night. So many nights, drinking when we could really drink. Music that never crowded the language, and asking when will late friends ever arrive. Before closing, taking the Tarot card reader seriously, wanting every word to be the gospel.
~~~
21
He was half his life old in the photo.
21.
Who knew that 19 years later,
his life would be over?
I miss him
though he never knew me.
And now I am almost twice
the age he was
and he was gone.
(On seeing a photo of John Lennon in Paris at the age of 21.
Stardom was just a dream around the corner.)
~~~
AGING
Such a disarray of clothes,
on chairs,
the foot of the big bed,
draped over the hamper, like old men,
vying to escape.
Framed photos on any horizontal space;
then there are those
in my own original customized
stacks and piles.
Poems left open on pages
of forgotten books.
Dishes in the sink.
Who will remind me
to feed myself?
~~~
GIRL ON HER WAY TO NEW YORK
There is no map to guide you in your journey of innocence,
destination known,
unknown. There is no treasure,
no ring, no fortune within sight.
Be your own advisor,
navigator,
captain of your ship.
I'll be waiting on this shore, holding
my pride flag, the fabric of faith.
~~~
LET'S GO FOR A RIDE
let's go for a ride
you be the groom
i'll be the bride
we'll stop in a bar
shoot some pool
and
drink beer from a jar
we'll pause in a field
and stare at the stars
knowing our fate is sealed
if we have a kid
we'll teach them about
l o v e
tell them the truth
about everything we did
~~~
FURY
Just before midnight, my adult daughter came to my room and took me by the hand
to the big windows out front where the rain hammered and the wind tore
causing rivulets of angry foam that bubbled down the street, as the sky BOOMED with thunder, metallic lightning streaks and our gaping wide faces peering into the raging night, which was over as quickly as it had begun and I said to her "fury, honey, that's fury."
~~~
THE MOON
Tonight, the moon followed me.
She's waning, as am I.
I left her hanging there,
In the plum-colored sky.
~~~
ALOHA
Oceans of tears
Skies full of firefall
Lonely souls sift through tides
Settle on millions of grains of sand
Moaning in the night
Weeping in the morning light
The loss of
foresight
history
wonder
(Aloha is a Hawaiian word with many meanings, ranging from love, peace, and compassion to pity and grief. It's commonly used, especially by visitors to Hawaii, to mean hello and goodbye.)
~~~
CRYING LADY ROCK
Oceans of tears
Skies full of firefall
Lonely souls sift through tides
Settle on millions of grains of sand
Moaning in the night
Weeping in the morning light
The loss of
foresight
history
wonder
Your ashes find their way to my garden
Your smoke covers my eyes.
(This poem just wasn't finished but had already been sent on its way. This is version #2.)
~~~
9/11
A deep hole
Goes so far down
We don't know where it ends
Buried there are
laughter, songs, photos
in worn wallets,
wedding rings,
favorite socks and ties,
Manolos and Hush Puppies
Lost goodbyes
~~~
MARIA
Now three years and more gone
I still see you there in my mind
Old messages and pics pop up on social media
and meet me with a stab
How can I go back to Garbo
and sit next to someone
who isn't you?
~~~
MAYBE NEXT YEAR
Time ate away the summer
And I didn't get a chance
to pick the blackberries
and make you a
Birthday Pie
and aim for reparations.
You
sent photos of sunsets
(what does that even mean?)
but no shared burden of a weary load.
Time waits for no one
but
Maybe next year.
~~~
AFTER THE CASINO CLOSED
After the casino closed
Lights spelled out a partial name,
some blinking yet...
on
off
on
off
Hanging onto pipe dreams
Testing a faulty resilience,
Hollow hope and sticky coins
Beg gamblers for a homecoming.
~~~
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
"A criminal enterprise
of breathtaking scope."
For those of us who managed
to survive a pandemic
somewhat intact,
the firehose
of daily revelations
causes reservation
to even contemplate,
let alone
ask
"what's new?"
~~~
SEQUOIAS
Sequoias, like strong women
grouped together,
weeping willows
firs and pines,
shoulder to shoulder.
Ancient-speak
holding hands
with firm ground,
embattled daughters
conquer galaxies.
~~~
MY TATTOO
"And so it goes,"
she has permanently marked
upon her arm.
Perfect details.
Bees
we share,
as if there wasn't anywhere else
to declare
devotion and trust
than a forearm.
~~~
SHE WASN'T A FRIEND OF MINE
She wasn't a friend of mine,
She was someone I'd run into
When out at the bars,
We always had a rapport.
Her laughter
had a following.
I wish I'd known her better.
~~~
It was icy cold.
We overdrank and underslept.
The best part was watching
the Uber prices rise by the minute,
as time
got closer to midnight.
We bundled up and walked the mile,
arguing about Ole Miss.
Surely you remember.
You handily beat me at very game
with a smirk and another lesson in satire.
~~~
I'VE HAD HOUSES
I had a villa on a cliff in Mexico that overlooked the ocean, backlit by a jungle where cicadas pierced the dusky light, reminding me of the choir of amphibious creatures who lullabied my childhood in a house so secure and safe, that sleep was rarely interrupted, while I dreamt of my Queen Anne home of the future with white fences and unlocked doors.
~~~
GOODBYE
It doesn't mean
what I want it to say
Have a good bye
By the by
By the time you get there
You will only be concerned with Hellos.
~~~
NOT MY JOB
To lend a hand
to be of assistance,
cause those entitled
to exhibit silent resistance,
heavy loads are borne
by the remaining few
who toil
for mere existence.
~~~
WHEN MY THIGHS WERE BEAUTIFUL
I walked on beaches
with a towel around my waist,
Never projecting into the future
what old legs might looks like,
how healthy I was then,
how strong.
It took decades to love my thighs
and myself.
~~~
PRICE TAGS
The thing that costs the most
is not always the best
The biggest is not always the brightest.
Why leave a price tag on
to prove a hollow point?
~~~
I SPOKE TO YOU
I spoke to you
I whispered in your ear
(I said I love you...")
You forgot who I am
I called you
on the phone,
texted,
emailed.
I never gave up.
I
love
you.
~~~
THE ACTORS' HOUSE
This house was surely haunted
when I lived there in the late 60's
Now it is my thoughts
that are haunted
when I find it driving by,
searching for the past.
I sit across the street and stare,
Hearing my own haunted howls
of anguish.
Nothing spared.
Never shared.
~~~
END OF THE DAY
Sometimes I make my bed
At the end of the day
Then I undo it all
and climb under the covers,
sorting limbs,
like a dog, walking in circles,
looking for the perfect spot.
Smoothing pillows
and ending the day
on a perfect note.
Resting,
dreaming,
hoping.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
