The Companionship of Impulses

-

When I leave

I will miss walking barefoot

on a rolling tide of Central Park meadow 

like Jesus himself high atop a very green Galilee 

I will miss moseying 

like a cane twirling

bow-legged 

Chaplin 

past the silent screen cyclorama  

of Eastside shops

I will miss being swept off my feet

by the invisible scent waves of that temptress pizza 

like a rubbery Dagwood Bumpstead 

into the waiting 

parmesan painted arms of Ray

I will miss greeting 

every dog I pass

like a returning war hero  

thanking them for their service

with a formal salute

I will miss the currency exchange of

a seconds-long smile 

with a passing looker

who will disappear 

into the crowd of swells

like a film noir dame

armed with a shimmy and a smirk

I will miss the meditative stroll 

through the cornfield maze of Strands

in search of meaning

or for someone who simply understands

me

But most of all I will miss

the companionship of impulses

which in normal times,

sent me on adventures of enlightenment 

to towering cathedrals  and skyscrapers

which I have known

since I was a little boy,

are recovery missions

that have 

in their secret vaults

the remains of my long ago broken heart



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Must Babies Think?

-
What must babies think, As they wonder why their Push pram rocket ship Which on most days thrusts them Into the universe of the fiery sky ball and chatter filled park Sits mothballed in the corner Staring at the wall like White-haired bench people Who always seem so Sad and forgotten? What must dogs think The Wal Mart greeters of the Animal world Who use the sign language Of the excitable nose and tail To communicate their borderline insane love for anything that moves When they trot out first thing In the morning like they’re in competition at Westminster Only to discover A show of silent concrete? What must jets think Who usually cannibalize people Until their bellies are full When the only in-flight meal Is a flight crew Two pilots And 900 steerage ghosts Who sit Without hope or destiny In the kind of Quiet That follows anyone Who has ever walked Away from a grave? What must birds think The cocky pigeons The Blue-header vireo Or the Y...
Read more

EVERY WORD

-
Image
Every word Which we have the freedom to use Is a boy Or a girl as fresh as a prom corsage in a pine box In a bone white church That sits high atop a field of markers a million Stars of Bethlehem Many of whom will share the name Unknown. Every word Which we have the freedom to use Is someone’s dream Someone’s child Someone’s love Someone’s pain which the wind has carried off the returning flight of dust and seeds to an unimagincally distant place which is reachable solely by the asphyxiating ache of a parent’s prayer. Every word Which we have the freedom to use is as holy and sanctified as the endless death march miles of desiccated battlefields and lost at sea oceans which stand as memorials constant reminders that words are meant for Declarations of love and independence and Constitutions, Anthems and Pledges of Alleigenace and vows and plays and scientists and philosophers and bibles. There is a reason that our very first word and ou...
Read more

IT'S ONLY WORDS

-
Image
Those of us of a certain age of Aquarius remember that tune. For those of you whose taste runs along the lines of K-Pop, it was a big hit released by The Bee Gees in 1968. “It’s only words and words are all I have, to take your heart away.” According to Robin Gibb, “Words reflects a mood.   It was written after an argument.   Barry had been arguing with someone.   Robin had been arguing with someone and happened to be in the same mood.   The arguments were about absolutely nothing. They were just words.   That is what the song is about: words can make you happy or words can make you sad.” 1968 was a hell of a time in America.     The year began with the Tet Offensive in the midst of the Vietnam War, Martin and Bobby were assassinated, cops and protestors clashed in Chicago and even though the Civil Rights Act was passed in April, a particularly strong showing   by segregationist George Wallace   highlighted the strong e...
Read more