March 2021
About Poemography
To commemorate the tenth anniversary of my Poem-A-Day Project, I am reprising my daily poetry challenge in 2021.
Every day this year—from January 1st until the 31st of December—I will create a new poem inspired by whatever moves me at the moment I sit down to compose that day's poem, publishing them here with subscription-free access for all.
Every Tuesday throughout the year, I will write and publish one bonus poem that will be available exclusively to my Patrons on Patreon.
In 2022, I will publish a book of my complete poems, spanning more than 40 years of poetry writing. The complete collection of poems will be published in a limited edition hardbound book available for purchase. As an added feature, I'm considering releasing some of the poems in this collection as spoken word recordings by a variety of special guest readers. Enjoy the year!
31MAR21
Robot (For B.B.)
I take comfort in knowing
That your eyes will read this
Something only few eyes will see
And even fewer will read the same way
How could we have been any different
We were sons of Germans and Jews
But had so much more in common
As we met on the schoolyard
I would wait for you there
In that little brick crawlspace
Beneath the towering smokestack
You'd soon arrive in your thin blue parka
And in those joyful few minutes of recess
You would be my robot; taking orders
Walk straight, turn left, arms out
Moments worth remembering
30MAR21
McKenna
It's not the first time I've dreamed of you
Sitting there beneath that beautiful tree
Your mahogany hair and tawny eyes
Seducing me from the distance
I've often wondered what you
Were writing in that book; perhaps
Stories of those summer days in Tuscany
Or that tragic night when your father was killed
There is so much I blame myself for; If I hadn't
Gone out to sea that day with your brother
If we hadn't come upon that brutal storm
Or the bottle of bourbon below deck
He would have never revealed all of
The secrets he promised you he'd keep
And I never would have known about him
Who you loved and left to spend your life with me
29MAR21
Tel Aviv
This is what happens when you wake up in
The middle of the night; when the full moon
Beams onto your sleepy face; you think things
Say things, write things about too many things
I've only ever been to Tel Aviv in my dreams
And in episodes of Rechov Sumsum where
Violinist Itzhak Perlman sits at an outdoor
Café reminiscing about growing up there
But what does that have to do with us?
About you or me or circumstances that
Neither of us could be responsible for
Or contemplate, or desire, or regret
I'll just go back to bed and hope that the
Morning will bring a lighthearted smile to
Your lips; and that you'll take these words
With kindness, charity, mirth and humor
28MAR21
Kolkata
Miles away and worlds apart
Your voice resonating clearly
Through time, space and sky
Dreamlike, ethereal, serene
With paramount concentration
I listen to the words you sing
Your breath speaking quietly
Revealing every sacred sound
Crossing the Vidyasagar Setu
Illuminated in the dark of night
Sitting beneath a banyan tree
In the old gardens at Shibpur
As you take my hand in yours
You hum a faint melodic tune
Something hauntingly familiar
From a lost childhood dream
27MAR21
What Happens Next
I'm not quite sure what happens next
Perhaps it's the little stone house in the
Alpujarras, the one next to the icy-cold
Guadalfeo River I once dipped my feet in
Or a wooden chalet in some long-forgotten
Italian village where I can finally learn to
Build something with my own two hands
A chair or a box to save my memories in
Perhaps it might be a manorial apartment in
Valencia's casco antiguo near the central market
Decorated with crown moldings on high ceilings;
Slippery cold marble floors and casement windows
But I've been reminded that I'm no friend of the
Great outdoors, with its bugs and inconveniences
That I have three small children and a propensity
For creature comforts like warmth, food and shelter
26MAR21
Waiting in the Window
I used to wait for you in the window
For the bus to pull up to the stop
For you to get off of the bus
And walk to our house
And I waited for him
His shadow on the sidewalk
Walking home from Casey's Corner
After a long three-to-eleven shift at work
I sat in the window waiting there for hours
But you never arrived and never would
But I waited, day in and day out
Until I waited no more
But who waits for me
Perched in the window above?
Waiting with anticipation and zeal
That I should arrive home safe and sound
25MAR21
Sediment Sentiment
Life, like all things, is cyclical
I recently read that in every glass
Of drinking water exists particles that once
Passed through dinosaurs in the Mesozoic era
And I'm more often reminded of these cycles
At the bottom of my teacup or coffee mug
The surly dregs which accumulate there
Like the ones permeating society
Life is an ongoing process of
Swamp draining; of replacing the
Old with the new; the decrepit residue
With fresh-smelling, pleasant-tasting newness
The ignorance and stupidity of the ages will one
Day be replaced with brilliant, sterling wisdom
While the sediment of today will waste away
To fertilize the promise of a better tomorrow
24MAR21
The Tooth Fairy (For Delilah)
You came to me in the early morning all aglow
Gap-toothed, smiley-faced and dimple-cheeked
Delighted by the seven coins you discovered
The Tooth Fairy had left in Maxine's pillow
Like the Easter Bunny who will soon arrive
Hiding scrumptious chocolates for you to find
Or Sinterklaas filling your shoe with tiny treats
Your childhood replete with imaginary treasures
And of course there will come that fretful day
When you will come to realize it's all been a lie
But a fabrication not based in malice, but love
Love for the pure innocence of your child's heart
And like the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and old Sint
I, too, will become a figment of your imagination
One day, in some faraway dreamland, I'll appear
And you will revel in knowing it was me all along
23MAR21
Morning Lilies
I can't imagine anything more beautiful
Than the sight of seeing you in the morning
Your first sleepy smile and the way you look at me
With all the love and tenderness I barely even deserve
I remember a time when we were nothing but strangers
It seems so long ago when yesterday was hopeless
Every breath reminded me the end lingered near
You came to me in my final moment of despair
I spent an entire lifetime desperate to find you
Not knowing you were standing beside me all along
You were the light that guided me through the darkness
The compassion that led me to salvation and inner peace
When I close my eyes for a moment of quiet contemplation
I see pictures of you floating in crystalline hallucinations
My heart beating so quickly it takes my breath away
All that remains is to rejoice in the homecoming
22MAR21
Juniper
I couldn't quite place the smell
But it reminded me of you
And a time long passed
On some sandy beach
We were younger then
Hungry for adventure
Living every minute
Like it was the last
We'd wait for hours
Until the rain let up
And the river sang
Unhappy songs
And nakedness
Like nightfall
Bathed you
In mist
21MAR21
Planting Seeds
Planting the first seeds of spring
Like a musical farmer of sorts
Wearing blue denim shorts
To play my guitar and sing
Every note a seed to bloom
Hoping to get the riff right
Keeping the groove tight
Inside the mixing room
My voice is much softer now
Fingertips are wearing thin
I know where I have been
How to take a final bow
What the harvest will bring
Will be seen in forty days
Hard work it alway pays
When you play and sing
20MAR21
Estelle B. Cooper
I had better things to do on Friday afternoons
Like going to the gym with the other patrol
Boys and girls to play dodge ball hoping
Not to get hit by Arthur Balourdos' missile
Mr. Lieberman looking on with his smug
Freddie Mercury overbite and mustache
Occasionally whispering secrets to other
Teachers popping their heads in to watch
Instead, I'd spend my Friday afternoons
Up on the second floor in the new wing
At the end of the hall sitting on a stiff old
Wooden chair in Estelle B. Cooper's office
She wanted to know why I seemed so sad
A nice boy, but troubled and disobedient
Talking in class, daydreaming and aloof
All I wanted to do was play dodge ball
19MAR21
Candy
It shows how very alike we are
Two peas in a pod who end up
In different tins and saucepans
On different dining room tables
Two diminutive green round seeds
Insignificant on their own account
But joined together with other peas
Can provide significant sustenance
We've come to this a long year later
Neither of us man enough to matter
Wrapped up in candy wrapper skin
Bitterness and corrosion in our veins
But there is a small glimmer of hope
Though I can't see it, I know it's there
There when I sleep, there when I wake
A nightmare that never seems to end
18MAR21
The Greatest Comfort
So, even after all these years
I still wake up in the middle
Of the night; make my way
Up creaky-knee stairs; into
Your little rooms where you
Sleep so peacefully in your
Little beds; the beauty with
Knees up; the weirdo with
Her blanket tsekneytsht on
The floor; and the sweetest
Little dimple-cheeked one
Dreaming sleepy dreams
To watch you there as you
Sleep; observing the rise
And fall of your breath is
The greatest comfort of all
17MAR21
Purpose
When you question everything
Your purpose, significance
And the meaning of life
Only to find nothing
That you are void
Lacking any emotion
That even tears are remiss
Dreams once dreamed discarded
And you lie alone in an empty bed
With this big empty head
Where thoughts lived
Once, long ago
Ending as it does
With vain cries of woe
Longing and quiet despair
For everything and nothing that was
16MAR21
Zelda
I imagine you don't recall that day in Paris
Standing in a queue at the Musée d'Orsay
Holding cafeteria trays waiting impatiently
Listening to that imbecilic American woman
We looked at each other with raised brows
Then smiles; getting the joke, feeling familiar
You spoke first, asked me where I was from
You were from Falmouth or was it Fall River
You asked if I wouldn't mind some company
We sat down and became better acquainted
Enjoyed a friendly chat over salads and tea
Told me about the fight with your boyfriend
You moved out of your hotel room in despair
Asked if I could help you find a cheap place
Said you could stay in my room for the night
I'm unsure if what happened next really did
15MAR21
A Mouthful of Teeth
I admit that I've called you names
Behind your back; not insults but
Observations; and only to myself
In private, softly, under my breath
It's mostly because you remind me
Of certain animal's characteristics
Horse face or the dog-faced boy
Duck-billed or snouted porcine lips
But please understand I mean no
Disrespect; blame it on my vivid
Imagination or my creative bent
(You do know I love you dearly)
Though it's your mouthful of teeth
I utterly adore; and your perfectly
Arched eye brows and your voice
Awfully mispronouncing my name
14MAR21
Back in the Saddle
There was a time when I was a much younger man
When doing simple things bore simple pleasures
My body an active and lively participant
My mind cognizant and capable
But getting back in the saddle
Has proven to be a delicate endeavor
Especially after such prolonged absences
The burden of age and deterioration so prevalent
Today I confronted the most penetrating of realities
When pain and discomfort rose to the surface
Like algae drifting along a murky lagoon
Fingers raw and voice a useless mutter
There was an instant today when I thought to myself
Perhaps the time had come for me to step away
But passion and desire had the last word
Triumph shedding brutal tears of hope
13MAR21
Collaboration Blues
Came down with a bad case of collaboration blues
Like running a sad race run in Portuguese shoes
Coffee cups, swans and mechanical staircases
Printed signs and lines and faceless faces
The best shots for the whole world to see
Secondhand stuff was saved for me
Renato, he was right about you
Not a team player how true
Then Saturday came and went
Thinking of all the hours spent
Waiting around for your shot
And a turnstile was all I got
The true worth of a man is naught
If he can't learn the lessons taught
Immunized against those eye views
Cured my case of collaboration blues
12MAR21
Ups and Downs
There are days when even my
Body rejects the notion that I
Have shit to do; maybe not
The most important shit
Earth-shattering shit
But important nonetheless;
I work, I eat, I clean and in
My own mediocre father way
I try and spend time with
Some of my children, here
And there, or wherever they
May be; and I try calling my
Mother every day but somedays
That just doesn't work out; those are
The ups and downs of my life today
Mind, body, soul, spirit and laughter
11MAR21
Jogs the Memory
I always wanted to be a painter
And despite being unable to paint
And being colorblind for that matter
Becoming a painter wasn't very likely
Miss Eisen introduced us to art in fifth grade
Every week an new artist would be featured
Every week I'd attempt to copy some painting
Which I failed at in the most awe-inspiring ways
At twenty, I had an interminable desire to paint
Spent hundreds of dollars on a MABEF studio easel
Hundreds more on paints, brushes, knives and canvas
But nothing I did resembled the art locked inside of me
I eventually abandoned my painting aspirations
Kept the easel for years displaying random art on it
Still have some dried out tubes of acrylic stashed away
Disheartened by my ambition's thwarted artistic endeavors
10MAR21
The Coldest Night
It was supposed to be my night
Of spectacle and satisfaction
Applause and curtain calls
The long-awaited debut
A final dress rehearsal
Stop for a bite of dinner
Home to shower and change
Then back to the theater by seven
I opened the door to my apartment
Was greeted by a burst of cold
How very strange, I thought
Back door was broken in
They took my Macintosh
Stereo and zayde's watch
The cash I had saved for rent
Left my Bose speakers, still around
09MAR21
The Weight of the World
Everyone has their limit; a breaking point
That very moment when reality sets in
The instant where it all becomes
Simply too much to take
It was clearly apparent
I knew there was something
Wrong the minute you sat down
The weight of the world on your shoulders
Your response took me totally by surprise
How very odd, I thought to myself
All those you'd place in peril
To prove a senseless point
Kids who depend on you
An ailing girlfriend in dire straits
And all the angst that misery brings
You made your point but lost my respect
08MAR21
Getting Around
Life is all about getting from point A to point B
Cradle to grave and everything in between
Every day arriving at a new destination
Coming, going, getting around
I've spent a decade in Holland
Two-wheeling here, there, everywhere
Bicycling in the wind, snow, hail and rain
Cycled to the North Sea and to Ikea in Delft
My first bike was a second-hand granny bike
Bought it for forty bucks and fixed it up
It got stolen from out front of the house
Taken for the baby seat I imagine
I bought a big blue cargo bike
To shlep the girls but they got too big
Now I ride a black three-speed hybrid
Gets me around and home safe and sound
07MAR21
Sky's the Limit
It's not that I lack ambition or drive
Though I've been blamed on both accounts
I would say it's more about focus and prioritizing
About being satisfied by merely envisioning the outcome
There's about two hundred novels I've written in my mind
My hard drive ever-burgeoning with chapter ones
But the imagination is so very easily gratified
After all, I already know how it ends
Back in L.A. all those years ago
I was the frontman in a new wave band
Wrote songs, played guitar, sang and got gigs
But never found the wherewithal to take things up a notch
But all that's going to change with my newfound audacity
They've been telling me for years age is just a number
Before the numbers start to cash themselves in
Sky's the limit on the new frontier
06MAR21
Guilty Pleasures
I don't expect you to remember the first time
We were just kids, nine, maybe ten years old
You taught me how to climb the chain link fence
The one behind Michael Blacker's house on Francisco
We'd sit for hours on top of the slanted garage roof
Reading Mad Magazine and listening to Larry Lujack
Tossing pebbles onto cars as they drove down the alley
Your sister would bring us cold bottles of Kayo and Buns
We laid there with the sun beating down on our faces
Talked about the future like it was a million years away
You told me that your father beat you with a belt one day
I told you mine disappeared but got a cool brand new one
Ten years later you came out to visit me in Scottsdale
You brought me a box of maple Buns and paid my rent
We slept together on my hide-a-bed, talked until dawn
Indulged in guilty pleasures and laughed until we cried
05MAR21
Shouting at Clouds
There will come a time when
You will be nothing more than
A memory; a name, a face;
An image in a photograph
Just as unrecognizable as
I am to myself when I ask
The stranger in the mirror
Who he's looking at
I keep having this dream
Where I'm gazing out
Over the sea; a boat of
Fishermen sailing near
Waving their arms and
Shouting at the clouds
Pointing to the horizon
To a sun that never sets
04MAR21
This Moment
I play this morbid game with myself
Have done it for as long as I can recall
Where I look despairingly at old people
Knowing they won't be alive in fifty years
But I soon realize I won't be here either
When so many people I know will likely be
They'll live to see technological advancements
Unlike Jackie Gleason who never sent an email
I wonder if my children will travel to Mars
Or resurrect me if they were given the chance
Will their grandchildren ever know about me?
Read my poems and stories or listen to my songs?
All that is perfectly clear in this very moment
Is that I am living, breathing, mediocre and trite
Feebly disquieted and aware of my imperfections
And this disturbingly insatiable desire to live forever
03MAR21
It's Not What You Think
We sat across the crowded diner
She mumbled something in a smile
I looked at the maple syrup dispenser
Trying to distract myself from her flirtation
Breakfast arrived and I dove into the stack
The pat of butter patiently melting away
Steam billowing off of scrambled eggs
And yes, the bacon was once a carrot
Her friend arrived with two stale kisses
I had a jacket like that many years ago
A hunter green duffle coat from Lord&Taylor
It looked better on me than it did on that guy
Then he handed her an envelope and left
She walked over to my table and set it down
I opened it while she waited to see my reaction
I ate a toasted bagel as she turned and walked away
02MAR21
The Twelfth House
You didn't ask to be born into this world
But the sun has created another perfect being
Your primal scream hurtled across the universe
Dancing with silvery stardust and moonbeams
Your place in heaven has already been anointed
The ancestors await you with sweet fragrant fruits
A ruby-studded crown to be placed upon your head
You will reign eternal upon a glistening golden throne
But today there is only decay amongst the ruins
No gods or flying chariots to rescue you from harm
Only the protection of your mother's frail embrace
No sanctuary to offer you sustenance or salvation
And as you walk along the burning desert sand
Encountering those who could not bear the journey
A wellspring of hope bursts open up from your eyes
Quenching your thirst giving you strength to carry on
01MAR21
Life During Wartime
No one goes into this thing with an exit strategy
Or walks up to the altar with a partial game plan
And who would have ever contemplated a last kiss
A last stroll along the seashore or that final sunrise
While there's no such thing as the perfect anything
And certainly no crystal ball to gaze into the future
Some people appear destined to go the distance
Possessing that extraordinarily unique something
It was easy to see the qualities you saw in her
An intensely affable, feisty, olive-skinned beauty
With penetrating dark eyes and a forest-like calm
Rebellious and adventurous, yearning for paradise
Life during wartime begets only innocent prisoners
They say every battle won is someone's battle lost
When the moment comes to pick up and soldier on
No possessions matter more than those we never had