You Forgot to Say Goodbye

Found Poem from “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" by Flock of Seagulls

(For Vernon, RIP 11.11.83)

on Fridays we cut through the afternoon 
like a beam shot from your ray-gun scooter
brighter than the Kansas summer sky
dry, dusty gray as old paper
stuck to the drawer back  

you'd twist to shout
I'd laugh, lean into you 
swerving for the third time 
buzzed on near-beers

headed towards big evenings
of cheap pitchers, running 
up stairs, over others to 
the dance floor or next town 
six miles up the two-lane 

you never didn't make me laugh; 
a quirky face half-smiling, 
my sides ached from
your rapid-fire wit

you, the misfit among boys 
in tooled cowboy leather belts
and a one-syllable way of talking 

humorless and hopeless,
they never didn't make me yawn;
you grew up there, but didn't belong 
I grew up everywhere and didn't either 

yours was the hand 
I reached for - in the bar, 
on the street, down the hall 

If you'd reached for me 
before you left, I'd have
tried to make you safe 

the way I felt behind you, 
racing through our galaxy 

If I had a photograph of you
It's something to remind me
I wouldn't spend my life just wishing

Time (in the style of e.e.cummings)

Another poetry prompt from my group. I love e.e.cummings.

in the hours 

(around 1)

between plenty 

& time's up! 

if I do 

no thing

am i 

waste 

(full)?!

times' some 

kinda thing

4 certain 

passin' 

bye 

unease 

gets comfort, 

able

cross-legged 

my gut 

chews

that

A Poem from Page 99

This is a poem from page 99 of a book of my choice, third paragraph, made up of the words I decided to keep, then rearranged into a poem. Poetry prompt exercises are often strangely enlightening. 

recall a slam

to the chest

an immediate hook 

all their coffee 

mornings distant 

belong to another 

he didn’t know 

had no idea

safely up there 

on his stroll

their invisible
wire just a story

a projection

she’s fallen 

like a memory

if she was 

there at all

did (s)he 

make it all up

fate 

always 

a maybe 

Swim Away

beliefs fail 

in shallow 

waters

a lifetime's 

swim 

upstream 

put to end

the passivity 

of false 

accusations 

worn, I

exit at the  

confluence

to no one's 

notice 

promised 

waters 

non-existent

reborn 

an estuary 

away 

Predators

from the dark yard

our dog barked
with deep warning

an early spring evening
the forest behind us
less sparse with
every sunlit day

we watched as he ran the rear fence
left to right, back again
his instinctual memory
entire being responding
to their unwelcome presence

the coyote's three-pronged
threat grew less cautious
I heard confidence in
the faint rustling of strategy

their reliance on other
adapting to overtake
shared goal to survive 

awe, curiosity transitioned to fear
bravado would never be enough
to overcome these predators
impersonal in their purpose

we called to him, flooded the yard
with light and our noises
mindful of a force beyond ours

howling cries and yips pierced sleep
from woods beyond ours
their persistent pursuit audible 

the coyotes kin to this virus
just another impersonal predator
unwelcome genetic saboteur 

both strands parallel
the human code;
our strategies align 

our instinctual memory
to rely on, adapt
overtake, survive
is to move from
prey to predator 

again