"Cement Stoop"

11/22/63-
The day Bud Lee
Poured a door pad
For Aunt Esta's white house.

Right after
The smoothing was done,
Gobbler Ervin ambled up
With coarse news.

"Someone blew off
JFK's head in Dallas."
Stillness clung to the
Air like black paint.

Momma's mixed cake batter
Became supper for
Emmy, our collie.
Even the dog seemed stunted.

Sobs in the night
Gave way to the light
Of a newborn day
Filled with death news.

Until the sight of the riderless horse-
(universal sign of a fallen hero)
The flag-draped coffin on a
Somber horse-drawn caisson…

Solidified the nightmare,
Much the same as 3 days
Curing had likewise hardened
Aunt Esta's new cement stoop.

---Bud offered to take it up
And pour a new one.
After some thought, Etts
Figured there was no comfort there.

Kennedy was dead and buried.
(Innocence shattered is glue proof)
The hard cement stoop
Mimicked sad canvas castaway hearts.

Anon endearingly-in stoic communion,
It remains as broad as it was long,
Serving still its unending term
Of remembrances of Camelot days.

"The Undead Love of My Life"

Cotton is louder than she.
Every morning I feel for a pulse.
We brag about being married for a thousand years.
Without details of feckless romance or cosmopolitan tears.

I want my red wagon back.
I could pull it along with me everywhere.
There was never a coppery whiplash smile
Matched with languid, moonless eyes to bear.

Maybe today will be asteroid day.
When talent fails, indifference endures.
Please notice us, the flawed Dysan Sphere
In retrograde orbit, before we manifest your fear.

"Salute"

The grey cemetery
Remained hushed
That Halloween night-
There was a new occupant you see.

A slight, unmarked grave
Down the rill where the
Poor, the indebted, and
Ruffians were planted in their seasons.

"Who is this new Sleeper
In our city of the dead, Mayor Bones?"
"His name is Feyd, an orphan soldier
Killed by cannon this very day."

"Fielded, dressed, and dropped herein,
We grieve this boy, abandoned
In death the way he was in life,
Wrapped in a patched tarpaulin."

The wind rustled a hollow hymn
As the minor woodland creatures
Marched forth to the cawing beats
Of the mountain birdland band.

Some carried white rocks,
Still others ported red or blue
Fronds from Pastor Alan ferns.
Their effort, by morning, took shape.

Sunup revealed quite a sight.
Down in the castaway plots
A magnificent flag draped grave
Caught the eyes of all passers by.

A rough hewn marker
Had even been instilled.
The bird peck inscription read
"Here Lies Dear Hero Feyd"

"Raven-Haired Beauty of Gudger, Still Wanders"

The picture
On my tombstone
Doesn't look like me.

I wonder why
My friends who
Parked me never visit.

Am I forgotten?
For I am surely dead.
Does no one want to know the rest?

Where is my hero?
Sparked not the favor of even one?
(I never knew to either love or fear selfishly.)

The fat ochre worms-
Breeched my casket in death,
Personal vault & camaraderie in life.

My hair jet-black remains,
Ebony as the nighthearts that
Willed forth fate's abandonment.

I look in the parking lots.

I will find them, and their children…

Tick-tock.

"Private Thoughts in Olive Drab"

"Could heaven incarnate
Victor Lazlo to welcome me?"
The strange not-moo-cow musk-ox watches me die.

"How do they grow anything in all this water?"
The rice paddy hushes my wounds.

"Where is Alice?"
The smell of not-life is here.

"I have lost the road and the fire."
Mmmmm, lemon grass.

"Life Lies and Frights" or "Why There Really Is No Spoon"

The Faun
"Never be afraid to walk deep in the dark woods."

School
"A river uncrossed is a river untested."

The Minister
"Shallow spirits fall in winter."

Roasted Peanut Flea Market Man
"I've never been to Spain."

Etowah Fat Mama
"When in doubt, Twinkies."

Horseface
"We never knew where we were, or when we were there, but we knew we were right."

Neighbor's Dog
"I love my master."

The Raven-Haired Beauty of Gudger
"Friends are like fairy dust."

The Rowdy Guy at the Dixie Youth Games
"People respect thermal cameras."

Carnival Girls
"We love to ponder ‘The Book of love'."

Driver's that Pass on the Snow-Covered Roads
"I am needed and wanted somewhere."

Jiffy Guy Cigarette Age Checker
"I admire your excellent taste in cheap smokes."

Undertakers (not all, but at least two)
"Caskets reflect the true essence of admiration."