Poetry

The Seventies

I feel like I’m looking from the outside in

I was wild

Was this really me?

I smoked pot

I got up at noon, ate Sloppy Joes for breakfast

And in the evening sang Grace Slick’s “White

Rabbit” in bars

The seventies

Friends home from Viet Nam

Lost their soul

I was confused

They were confused

The world was confused

Woodstock explained and examined

The truth of a generation

Searching for something

A way to understand

Some through drugs, some though “free love”

I watched from the window of my college

Cops breaking up riots

Kids with psychedelic signs, “Make Love, Not War”

I felt scared, the world had gone crazy

My world had gone crazy

My mom just died

My dad just drank

My sister fled

My cousin went underground

I smoked pot

I drank wine

To the seventies!

“Hear, Hear!”

1960

1960. Milk bottles outside our front door
Noc hockey waiting in the school yard
Friends collecting beetles in jars
And afterwards a dose of Donna Reed

1960. Waiting for the car pool of daddies
To return at 6pm
Our liver dinners ready to eat
And after, the Million Dollar Movie

Clotheslines in the back.
Children playing jacks.
Parents unaware.
Without a care.

1960. It was easy. It was happy

It was simple. It was Howdy Doody Time
It was our life back in 1960.

A Mother's Love, A Country Falling Apart

I clutched my heart
As the poet recited his heart
A heart filled with grief
Black Lives Matter

He clutched his heart
With his voice
And spoke of his mother’s love for this poet
“Do not leave this earth”, she cried

“Be careful my son, my children
For this country has left us
Beyond a poem
Beyond my heart”

One Man's Sickness

Everything is still beautiful, isn’t it?

The trees are sprinkled with left over autumn leaves

The air still feels fresh and untarnished

The birds are still dancing to their rhythm

The pond’s ice is still green with moss

But the outrage of yesterday’s injustice is here

And will be, forever

They stormed into our Capitol

They entered unwelcomed, and decimated before our very eyes

An attempt to destroy our democracy

One man’s sickness and ugliness

Another man’s challenge

A nation heartbroken

A nation frightened

One man’s sickness to harm

Another man’s glory

Where are you God?

What’s next?

What does tomorrow bring?

Do you know?

A Song for My Soul, Rachmaninov

A song for my soul

To heal a thousand wounds

Rachmaninov flows through my veins

Violins soothing, and then a symphony of

exhilaration

Piano keys playing

Caressing my soul, my heart

Dancing notes frolicking round and round

Deeper and deeper

Probing into my thoughts

Dancing and dancing

The music opening and letting me breathe

Sudden rushes of feet running

A symphony of your heart

Coming together

Like floating in water, the air around me soft

Soft, soft sounds, climbing slowly

Reaching the heavens Rachmaninov is

Pause, new peacefulness arousing me

Dance joyfully with slow precise movements

Wondering what will come next

Wait…wait

Faster, faster, ascending, an excitement of

beautiful sounds

This way and that way, movements to and fro

Again and again

Forever and ever, rushes into my soul

Dancing and dancing

Piano keys dancing ballet so softly

Ease into heavenly romance

With violins and cellos conversing

Piano keys floating

Conclusion deep down responses reflecting

Probe, probe

Fade, fade