Distance
out on
the range
you hit some good ones
and some bad ones
but it don’t matter
nobody cares
nobody’s keeping score
you do your best to hit ‘em
long and straight
even if they tend to go
left to right
and, sometimes, nothing lifts
but dirt
damn it!
you get back in position
and try again
and it goes long and straight
and all the bad shots
fade away
it’s what I love
about golf
you get to begin
each time
you go out there
and play
TL
Closure
in two
weeks’ time
she’ll be
on a flight
14 hours
with her
kids
going and visiting
her dad
her mother’s grave
other family members
sights and sounds and scents
from her childhood
and I’m listening to her
tell me all about it
and I don’t know why
but I start to cry
and can’t stop
I try and try
but can’t
and I don’t want
her to see me like this
anyone to see me like this
to see how deep it goes
how it’s always there
and she tells me
she’d go
with me
if I ever
but it’d be
like Everest
just to board
let alone touch
down
not like there’d be
this family reunion
or anything
or that I’d understand
a word anybody was saying
or anything
and 14 hours
I mean really
yeah, no
can’t see it happening
nonetheless
a part of me
is left
there in that orphanage
in Korea
a baby I need to hold
and never let go
TL
Weeping Willow
there’s a willow
that sits
on the edge
of a ripple
her hair
left long
and golden
tousled and untamed
a fountain there
sprays a mild mist
a balm against
a summer sun
scent in a whisper
the mist
mimics memory
of an untold
story
as legends go
her leaves fell
in a whirling winter
leaving the bark bare
a lamp without shade
the trunk burned
by day
in embers of rain
the bark
took her tears
and etched them
against the grain
and when night
the moon
a slice
the coolness
of the stars
like snowflakes
that disappear
in sleep
there he dreamed
a good dream
as he stood
by the ripple
the promise
of spring
her hair
all around
the dream
eternal
TL
Unprepared
months later
got a letter
from the book
store
telling me
sorry
but
couldn’t
find
a copy
of Ephron’s
work
not Sleepless in Seattle
or You’ve Got Mail
or Julie and Julia
but the book she wrote
about her neck
and how she felt bad about it
standing at the helpdesk
on a day I turned 40-something
the young girl
typed in the long title …
whilst trying not to look at my neck
and I was young
like her
20 years ago
when the furthest thing
was this
how nothing prepares you
for this
not the weeds of gray hair
not the relentless wrinkles
not the climbing cellulite
not the tight inner tube
not the field of freckles
not the aches
not the pain
no, nothing
quite
on the day
you look in the mirror
and see
some-
thing
you never thought about
worried about
and I wanna tell 20
SPF
not just your mask
but everything below it
especially your neeeeeeeeeeeeck
‘cause someday
you’ll be a desperate fool
reaching for something
anything
maybe even a book
to help you through
TL