drove out

drove out of the center of Roma,
a big deal to vacate our precious street parking spot,
then arrived in a stone city with kitties,
topped with a castle on a hill,
Palombara Sabina,
it only took an hour
to drive six hundred years into the past

following an hour walk around
we stopped at a restaurant on the way home
with two dozen hunters inside in camouflage suits
we wondered if it was safe to go in

as we got out of the car in the parking lot
three more hunters were getting out of their tank,
i mean “car”, they also wore head to toe camouflage
and didn’t smile

we asked them if the restaurant was open,
maybe they were having a secret meeting,
they said sure, and to go right in,
i said “we don’t have any costumes.”
they laughed instead of shooting us

yes we ate well,
the best lasagna of the ages
drove safely back to Rome
and found a parking space
a minute walk from home

tonight we sipped amaro
and talked about tomorrow

in line

two of my friends lost their moms this month
one, and then the other,
mine went a few years ago,
all the dads have been gone a while

my wife called the parents a buffer,
without them
we’ve all stepped up,
and we’re at the head of the line

on the phone Les mentioned school
how our town was, who we were
we knew it all so well,
and how way back then
is only a mind’s blink away
in first grade I was sent to stand in the hall
for pulling her pigtails in class

way, way back then, in that other time
we weren’t aware how young we were
during the summers of fun, the apples of fall,
crisp winters, happy buoyant beginnings of spring
the teachers, classmates, dances
the whole thing whizzing by
in the tempo of a Souza march
every bit of life rang rain water sparkling clear
with ups and downs, and most often, fine times

as pages turn somehow
and here we stand
look at us, we are
those same kids we remember,
older now,
next in line

time for

reading and writing
all I have time for
what am I slighting?
where is the fun?

still I can’t get it all done
it seems either, or
one after the other
from sun to sun

beauty

beauty without
something behind it
is a thoroughbred
never trained

roll on until you coast

I have to think about this. What I am doing here? Wait, It’s not what you think. I know I’m writing brief things each day. I am talking about the how as much as the what.

A different site is one option, because it’s hard to think of longer poems on more than one page of the computer. Then you have to scroll down. No one in their right mind wants to get into a lot of scrolling. Based on the unpublished comments to this blog however, i have a few readers ripe for an all night scrollathon.

So, I need pieces of paper with poems printed on – what normal people call a book. On the blog you have to read the two or three parts of a story backwards. That is a problem that needs resolution from the techies of this cyberworld.

Or I could use a guy standing on a hill reciting my poems - some other guy, not me. How about Peter O’toole in his youth? He can do it cause a blog is like a dream, isn’t it? I just dream it up and it comes about? Or what?



sailing to the coast
on a silver ghost
buckle up in motion
they pour that magic potion
movies on a jet plane
the hero’s
singing in the rain

now, it’s a primo flight
gonna fly all night
when she brought my tray
i heard her walk away and say
life is but a dream
a matter of time
now you've made the scene
so you may as well unwind
go ahead and dine
on crackers, avocados, cheese and California wine

for the better

Obama is changing the world for the better
it is inevitable, for as you know,
in all organizations
things trickle down from the top

Obama is atop a worldly big one
good for him and good
for the rest of us
the good will trickle down

dark eight

dark, eight in the rain
on a goodies run in the glare
Saturday night, doin’ it right
lamp light here and there

carefully of course, not to fall again
yesterday, a stairs slip may have broken my hand
saved the pizzas though
i’ll have an x-ray if the hand stays swollen

oh, yes, the rain run tonight,
saw a hunched dripping guy
walking by, said hi, Giancarlo
the optometrist round the corner

been to him over the years,
makes me feel the local I am
wandering Roma alleys in the dark
out on a lark cause we gave in,

she had a sore throat,
so i put on my coat and did the need
with good thought and speed
brought home the chocolate