Bicycles

  For a friend

  I am the spider

  Capturing shadows

  Weaving this web

  To let the light

  Dance

  I am the harvest

  moon That allows you

  To read

  A midnight

  Poem

  I am the autumn wind

  Whooshing cold

  Bringing you greetings

  From blankets and fireplaces

  I am that tiny ball of cotton

  From your grandmother’s quilt

  Which tickles

  Your nose

  I am the pepper

  In your soup

  The garlic

  In your sauce

  The taste in your mouth

  When you are tired

  I am a match

  Light me

  You need to change

  How you look

  At things

  YOUR SHOWER

  I wish I could be

  Your shower

  I would bubble

  Your hair

  Tickle my way

  Down to your lips

  Across your shoulders

  And over your back

  Around your waist

  Bouncing off your knees

  Fall to the tips

  Of your toes

  Then journey back

  Again

  Warm Wet

  Sticky Sweet

  Up and Down

  Around and Around

  Around and Around

  Around and Around

  Until

  There is

  No more hot

  Water

  GOOD NIGHT

  It is late

  I stand

  In front of your desk

  Saying something inane

  You fiddle with papers

  Not looking at anything

  Work is over yet

  We stay

  I smile

  You are, after all, very cute

  We leave the building

  Casually

  Like it doesn’t matter

  There is a beautiful moon

  We say Good Night

  I unhurriedly stroll to my car

  Humming some 1950s love song

  I speed-limit home

  to

  Walk my dog

  Give fresh water to the birdbaths

  Eat my dinner

  Choose my clothes for tomorrow

  Set the coffee timer

  Slide between my bamboo sheets

  And dream

  Of you

  MY SLEEP

  I appreciate my sleep

  In sleep my conversation

  is witty

  My home is dusted

  My office work

  is up to date

  The dog

  is even

  well behaved

  And food is on the table

  on time

  But then

  when I’m asleep

  I don’t have you

  to clutter and confuse

  My hungry heart

  BICYCLES

  Midnight poems are bicycles

  Taking us on safer journeys

  Than jets

  Quicker journeys

  Than walking

  But never as beautiful

  A journey

  As my back

  Touching you under the quilt

  Midnight poems

  Sing a sweet song

  Saying everything

  Is all right

  Everything

  Is

  Here for us

  I reach out

  To catch the laughter

  The dog thinks

  I need a kiss

  Bicycles move

  With the flow

  Of the earth

  Like a cloud

  So quiet

  In the October sky

  Like licking ice cream

  From a cone

  Like knowing you

  Will always

  Be there

  All day long I wait

  For the sunset

  The first star

  The moon rise

  I move

  To a midnight

  Poem

  Called

  You

  Propping

  Against

  The dangers

  I LIKE THE DANCE

  I like the dance

  I like the idea

  of you in my arms

  I like the gentle sway

  I like the dance

  I like your sweat

  on my cheek

  I like the way you breathe

  Look at me

  Look at me

  I like the way I feel

  in your arms

  I WOULD NOT BE DIFFERENT

  Every now and then

  We all fall in love

  With a totally inappropriate

  Person

  And I would not be different

  You sort of see someone

  And you don’t want to notice

  That ring on his finger

  Nor really that sort of happy

  Look in his eyes

  You do however know

  Immediately

  How wonderful it would be

  To fall into those arms

  To nuzzle the hairs

  Of his underarms

  To rub your cold feet

  Against those thighs

  You do want to know

  What the water would feel like

  As it caresses you two

  In a rainbow shower

  The soapy suds swirling around

  As you kiss and kiss and kiss

  You do want to know

  How he takes his eggs

  Whether his toast should be buttered

  On both sides

  If he drinks decaf or regular

  But he is a totally inappropriate person

  And all the world knows

  This cannot work

  Yet all the world would think

  If they could see him

  “I want to be in love with that”

  And I would not be different

  GIVE IT A GO?

  I like to polish

  Silver

  Rub the paste in

  Let it set

  Then shine shine shine

  Even as a little girl

  I loved to wash

  Grandmother’s crystal

  Watch the light bounce

  Off the edges

  Of the glasses

  We were taught

  Never to use clear

  Fingernail polish

  But to trim our nails

  To a respectable length

  And buff them

  With lamb’s wool

  I wipe my bathroom

  Mirror after each shower

  And always shine my faucet

  In order to properly care for things

  They must be loved

  And touched

  Want to give it

  A go?

  ANOTHER DAY (REVISITED)

  Librarians do it

  but they do it by the book

  Fishermen do it

  ’cause they have a special hook

  Opticians do it

  and they love to take a look

  Zorro does it

  ’cause he’s a special crook

  Three-ring circuses

  do it for the clowns

  Football players

  do it on first downs

  Swimmers do it

  ’cause they know they will not drown

  Prince does it

  ’cause he likes to go down

  Chefs do it

  and they like to use the spices

  Bakers do it

  with all the bread that slices

  Butchers never do it

  on the job


  Persnickety folk

  never do it with a slob

  Weather persons…in any clime

  Poets do but only in good rhyme

  My Mama said No but my Daddy doesn’t care

  And I really kind of like that thing you play with

  in my hair

  I do it ’cause you really stole my heart

  You do it ’cause that’s the natural part

  We do it ’cause we’re curious

  and

  We do it

  just for fun

  But when you did it to me right

  my heart became undone

  And now you have to do it

  ’Cause there is no other one

  Who can do me who can do me who

  can do me

  Like you done

  Yesterday has left us

  Tomorrow may not be

  There’s no reason to be scared

  ’cause you’re safe with me

  ’Cause you’re safe with me

  ’Cause you’re safe with me

  CHRISTMAS LAUGHTER

  My family is very small

  Eleven of us

  Three are over 80

  Three are over 60

  Three are over 50

  Two of us are sons

  Come Labor Day the quilts

  are taken from the clean white sheets

  in which they summered

  We seldom have reason

  and need no excuse

  to polish the good silver

  wash the tall stemmed glasses

  and invite one another

  into our homes

  We win at Bid Whist

  and lose at Canasta

  and eat the lightest miniature Parker House rolls

  and the world’s best

  five-cheese macaroni and cheese

  I grill the meat

  Mommy boils the beans

  Come first snow the apple cider

  with nutmeg…cloves…cinnamon…

  and just a hint of ginger

  brews every game day and night

  We have no problem

  luring

  Santa Claus

  down

  our chimney

  He can’t resist

  The laughter

  I WANT A SHOE

  I want a shoe named for me

  The Giovanni

  It will make you think of a plot

  Type it out faster

  And get a cover letter

  Quicker

  Than you can say “Jack Robinson”

  I want a shoe

  That will let me float

  Down the red carpet

  To the cheers of an adoring crowd

  High-tops with red strings

  Something fashionable

  Yet humble

  I need a shoe named for me

  That keeps my feet at an even 72 degrees

  And also oils my heels

  And trims my toenails

  It shouldn’t cost too much

  Because I am

  After all

  Just a poet

  Thinking way outside

  The box

  And…

  Oh yeah…

  I need dimples

  too

  A DRUNKEN PHONE CALL

  A drunken phone call

  From a middle-aged woman

  In the middle of the night

  After SportsCenter

  Reminds me

  That life is short

  And cold

  And mean

  And maybe I should

  Have called you

  Like I said

  I would

  A SUBSTITUTE FOR YOU

  I’m a fan of Christopher Columbus

  I want to find a spice route too

  They’ve got a substitute for sugar

  I want a substitute for you

  I’m gonna ride those trade winds

  Find gold in El Dorado too

  They’ve got MasterCards for money

  I need a substitute for you

  My feet at night

  Are so cold

  I tell you they’re turning blue

  They have a substitute for coal oil

  I’ll buy a substitute for you

  Some things are real though most things

  Really don’t be true

  They got a substitute for the truth

  But a lie right now won’t do

  You let me think you loved me

  Luckily I can’t sue

  With work and play we drifted

  I’m requesting something new

  I’m not saying

  This is nice

  There’s a crack

  That love fell through

  I’m just saying

  What we had is gone

  I need a substitute

  For you

  I KNOW THE SONG

  I know the song

  The moon sings

  Though she only sings

  To moonbeams

  And to all the stars

  That twinkle

  In the night

  I know the song

  Her heart hears

  Since she belongs

  To no one

  And there is none to hear

  Her sing her song

  I know to sing

  The moon song

  That mostly the moon

  Sings alone

  Bravely

  Through the night

  I know the song

  The moon sings

  I understand the harmony rings

  That tinkle chiming for the sun

  I, too, am

  A motherless child

  My heart and soul

  Are running wild

  I, too, am a motherless child

  I AM A MIRROR

  I am a mirror

  I reflect the grace

  Of my mother

  The tenacity

  Of my grandmother

  The patience

  Of my grandfather

  The sweat

  Of my great-grandmother

  The hope

  Of my great-great-grandfather

  The songs

  Of my ancestors

  The prayers

  Of those on the auction block

  The bravery

  Of those in middle passage

  I reflect the strengths

  Of my people

  And for that alone

  I am loved

  EVERYTHING GOOD IS SIMPLE

  Everything good is simple: a soft-boiled egg…toast fresh from the oven with a pat of butter swimming in the center…steam off a cup of black coffee…John Coltrane bringing me “Violets for My Furs”

  Most simple things are good: Lines on a yellow legal pad…dimples defining a smile…a square of gray cashmere that can be a scarf…Miles Davis Kind of Blue

  Some things clear are complicated: believing in a religion…trying to be a good person…getting rid of folk who depress you…Horace Silver Blowing the Blues Away

  Complicated things can be clear: Dvořák’s New World Symphony…Alvin Ailey’s Revelations…Mae Jemison’s ride in space…Mingus Live at Carnegie Hall

  All things good are good: poetry…patience…a ripe tomato on the vine…a bat in flight…the new moon…me in your arms…things like that

  DEAL OR NO DEAL

  (for ENGL 4714 CRN 16937)

  My class is not sure

  That I should apply to

  Deal or No Deal

  They think I am lucky

  After all

  I am teaching

  Them

  They know I am smart they are

  For example

  learning

  yet

  They don’t want to see me

  Make those greedy mistakes

  And push beyond

  The envelope

  The banker is neither frien
d

  Nor foe

  He’s a machine

  To think you can beat him

  Is to think you will win

  At Vegas or love

  But I persist

  My dream is a red dress

  Above my knees

  High-heel red sandals

  And me coming over the top

  The music booming

  Hi Howie I will say

  With a lovely smile

  I don’t want to play the game

  I want to be it

  They were born forty years after me

  Yet I am younger

  I know you cannot go

  Through life

  Unless you are willing

  For love or money

  To make a fool

  Of yourself

  Where else does the ecstasy

  lie

  I PROVIDE

  I am the stretch

  The scratch

  The way your shoulders

  Shrug off sleep

  I am the first note

  Of the song you sing

  The first beat

  Of the rhythm you tap

  The only high note

  You reach

  I am the ink

  On your newspaper

  The grounds

  That make your coffee

  The bread

  That you will toast

  I am your shoelaces

  For your run