Free Verse
Poem For Jack
Micheline
He was the high note
of a wailing saxophone
The spark that ignites a fire
He was a fifth of Jack Daniels
A glass of imported beer
A shaman
a vagabond poet
shuffling words like a river boat gambler
Ravished by illness
ravished by time
He painted his visions on canvass
on city streets
In bars and in cafe˘s
His poems singing out across the
Streets of America
Pure innocence
pure genius
Spinning words that hung in the air
Like a humming bird drunk on the
Pollen of life
Stretching The
Imagination
Ex-barfly
ex-drunk
diminished Don Juan
kissing the pages with my words
No stash graying moustache
watching Larry Curly and Moe
down at the Last Picture Show
Head gears in reverse
going back in time
pork loin roast and sweet potatoes
roasted on a fire of jazz
here alone tonight
dancing with my nerve ends
feeling like a tightrope walker
walking a high tension wire
Poem For An
Imaginary Daughter
Daughter that I
never had
tugging at my arm sleeve
from death's still sleep
hanging heavy as an anchor
rooted to the strings of my heart
your vision riding high in the
retina of my third eye
I toss restlessly in half-sleep
a tugboat captain throwing
you a life line towing
you gently through my dreams
Trying To Let
Go
a week after Saint
Patrick's Day
you passed away
yet remain in our hearts
half smile half frown
like a drifter walking a ghost town
and I still visit your grave on Mother's Day
tied to death's umbilical cord
that will not let me go
knotting itself like a noose tied to my neck
too tight for comfort not loose enough
to set me free
