Dick

 I remember Dick

Getting drunker than I would like

To fall into my room

Or walking behind girls

And talking under his breath

Or eating like an animal

And grinning wide

Sitting with a big bosomed girl

Playing games with his eyes

Getting into fights

Taking his girl to a motel

Only to sleep on the couch

Quiet Dick on a hot day

Discussing life

Over ice cream

Or running for senator

With his business friends

Crazy Dick

Wearing green slacks

For sixty days

Dragging me out into the night

For a quiet peace march

Of a hundred candles

Or running in the snow

With his crazy laugh

Rolling oranges in the hall

Selling mattresses

Smoking cigars

Living life

More than I can ever hope to.

Rain

 The rain comes on a gray day

The clouds like a single sheet

Blending the sky and earth

The drops fall cool, steady and life giving

Hitting me as I walk and jump

Around clear new crystal puddles

The coolness charging me up

And blanching my breath

As I walk under dripping trees

So dark and green and alive

The distant buildings grayed colorless

But looking so new and alive

As I walk across shiny asphalt

Like a shallow white lake

Mirroring cars and people around me

And metal shining bright like jewels

And glass like giant diamonds

Overlooking leaves pasted to sidewalks

And lying limp in dark green grass

To walk forever getting wet

Dripping my hair, spotting my glasses

So that things blur as I turn my head

To see pools appearing inky black

But so clear as to vanish when I near

And the mist hugs me

And I respond by thinking

I'm glad I'm alive.

Ruth's Cafe

Ruth's Cafe

The days were cold and gray

And weighted with mud

We flew to the little town

Washed at the station

And went to Ruth's

We opened the door

And sat at a booth

Under their gaze

My hair wild like the wind

Ruth was always in back

But Colline

She always played a song

And came to let us look at her

Take our orders

And sit under our gaze

Colline

Like a fire in winter

Warmed our day