Montréal

Montréal

La pâleur des visages
et des structures
coule dans le ciel gris.
Ma retraite de week-end
se sent plus comme une
course sur la sentence
qu'et plaisant se retiennent.
Remerciez Dieu
des narcotiques
et de l'alcool.
Et Dieu de remerciement
pour la langue française
parce qu'il le fait
même avoir l'air de la poésie.

SMG

Exponential Memories

Exponential Memories

I am 8 and my grandmother

tries to hold my hand

as we step from the curb.

Defiant, I pull my hand

away from her protective grasp

and strut across the street.

She understands and lets me go.

I am 18 and she calls to see

if I can come by and help her

retrieve some old things

from the rafters of the garage.

Irritated, I make an excuse,

lie, and tell her that I am

already late for work.

I am 28 and I find a letter

written by my grandmother

amongst the grocery coupons

and credit card bills. She wants

me to know she is proud of me

and happy that I’ve found someone

to love. I think about calling her.  

I am 38 and I knock on her door

and wonder where she could be

in the middle of the afternoon.

Incapacitated; she never answers.

betrayed by a small blood vessel

in her brain, she lies motionless

in the back bedroom unable to cry out.

I am 48 years old, sitting alone

in the dark. I long for a hand to hold

or a loving voice, on the other end

of the phone, that is just happy I called.

I think of when we listened to the Beatles

and the many times we played catch

because my father was just too busy.

SMG

Picture Drawer

Picture Drawer

There are times,

when I walk through

the broken glass

of you, me, here and now,

that I think back

to the before.

To that long haired

Mexican girl

and the nights

we spent entangled;

untangling our need

and desire.

Of course I know

I fought with her too

but those battlefields

are green and over grown;

Appomattox, Utah beach,

Hue City.

I will love you

in the morning

and we will clean up

the mess we have made.

We will share a cup of coffee

and I will smile at you

through the tiny particles

that glow in the sun streams.

But for now

my mind needs to flip

through old photographs

and wonder about things

that never really existed.

SMG

Posted for CombatWords; come join the fray