Memory Poem In Apartment A - 1971
a brace of wine glasses standing tall on a kitchen table
greasy frying pan luxuriating immodestly in the kitchen sink
two forks and two knives bathing naked in the steamy water
vinyl black record spinning clockwise under a cool ceiling fan
music by beethoven caressing the hour with perfume sounds
clock on the television console ticking with slicker love-bites
purple pleated pillow breathing excitedly on a big green sofa
portraits of curious dead people peeping through glass frames
bowl of red fruit sitting ripe and ready on an oak dining table
wide open window allowing a red sunset through shy curtains
bathroom faucet in pink bathroom dripping rivulets of sweat
silent resplendent wall mirror staring with secret fascinations
a brace of wine glasses standing tall on a kitchen table
California Dreamin…
Momma Told Me Not To Come
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Will Anybody Really Know What Time Has Spun
Hotel California…
Its Chain Gang wearing thin
Searching for an American Woman
Blowin In The Wind
Bill Bojangles Robinson…
preaching Fire And Rain
New York’s A Lonely Lonely Town
dragging Ball And Chain
Summertime Blues and Porgy’s drowning…
Riders On The Storm
Layla kisses Judy Blue Eyes
Stairway To Heaven scorned
Woodstock and a Big Bear Scrambler…
Who’ll Stop The Rain
Don’t Think Twice this Hard Day’s Night
Eli’s Comin again
Hey Jude, Moondance is calling…
It’s Too Late says Ms. King
Yesterday’s Hound Dog barking Crazy
—the Purple Haze begins
(Rosemont College: June, 2022)
Ending in a flouncy ruffle, I married in a brown crushed velvet dress
This was 1971. Only six people were there, maybe one less.
My groom was nervous, I had sweet talked him into eloping with me.
I was confident this was the way God meant our wedding to be.
This was our second try at finding a justice of the peace.
My husband’s pants were ironed into a straight down middle crease.
He had a big hunk of dark hair that fell across his left hazel eye.
I believe I heard a secretary give a little sigh.
These people had tried to talk us out of this quickie wedding.
Strangers to us, they had a deputy give a little sing.
This was during the awful horrible Vietnam War you realize.
My groom was number thirty-eight in the draft, danger could arise.
We have been married fifty years, so things worked out rather well.
My husband never had to serve in swamps of that foreign hell.
He always says that I looked beautiful on our wedding day.
When I look at him, he is nineteen. What could be better anyway?
We got married on October tenth of nineteen seventy-one.
We had a great honeymoon, lots of giggling, and a lot of fun.
We actually eloped, and were married by a really nice judge.
I wore a brown velvet dress, the color of caramel fudge.
I thought that life could never ever be better than this.
No one got upset if we cuddled, nestled or wanted a kiss.
There was a lot of cuddling, and kissing, and other stuff too.
We had lots of fun, alone, in a cabin in sweet Kalamazoo.
We had no idea back then that we would be married forever.
We went in to it thinking it would be a rather short endeavor.
I do not think at age nineteen you think about ever being old.
We were happy together, as you can see, this tale now told.
I think we spoke of children, and thought they would almost be small.
I know we remarked on my shortness as he is quite tall.
We told stories, ate potato chips and laughed about lots of stuff.
Whatever we had in common that day, it really must have been enough.
We sat there just groovin', our senses so keen
Trippin' and giggling, taking in nature’s scene
We smirked as visitors drove up in blind haste
"Take a picture! Let's go! No time left to waste!"
We were smug, silly hippies, naive to the core
So certain we had found the key to that door
Those tourists were clueless, yet then so were we
My highway to wisdom does not come toll-free
I'll never fly to heaven on Cannabis weeds
Through brambles and thorns my gutted path leads
If I find Eden, I must first weed and plow
Wish I could go back to Yellowstone now
I awoke early that morning as Venus is fading from dawn's sky.
Watching sun rays skate upon the mirror of ripples,gently flowing by.
On the deck of a Princess ship, suspended between the Heaven and the sea.
The mirage of a double Sunrise,as the sun shone upon itself and me.
Today is the day I say "I DO", take thee as my Wife: for the Eons of Eternity.
Bible in hand, the captain stands in Dress Whites, as does his loyal crew.
Arm and arm with daddy,as he gives her unto me; to start a life of Love anew.
Her emerald eyes try hiding behind a transparent Pure White vail; only to fail
Her auburn hair is dancing below her shapely hips: I long to kiss her Rosa lips
Do YOU take this woman"Lenore Ellen Adams" as Your Always and Forever Wife.
I Do echos across the Caribbean Sea. I Do reverberates in the bright Blue sky. "I DO"
Inspired by Dan Kearley's Contest :"One Of Your Greatest Days
Dedicated in Loving Memory of "My LIFE, My LOVE, My FOREVER, MY WIFE
"Lenore Ellen (Adams) Johnson - Nov. 4, 1951 - August 25, 1971
1971 to 2011
Then,
If only, we could understand
We could have walked hand in hand.
If only, plots could be reversed
Echoes could have been hushed.
If only, coups could be avoided
Laws could have been abided.
If only, lust could be elapsed
Our land could have been wrapped.
If only, ego could be aside
‘Sorry’ could have been pride.
If only, “The Book” could be cited
Some respect could have been provided.
If only, we could understand
We could have walked hand in hand.
Now,
We may walk hand in hand
If only, we can understand.
Situations should not be revised
If only, leaders can be advised.
Other’s drones should be erased
If only, dear ones can be praised.
Respect and education is their right
If only, we can feel their plight.
Mistakes are meant to teach
If only, past may we reach.
As a nation may we reside
If only, keep “The Book” beside
Then, we may walk hand in hand
If only we can understand.
The ripples at the stern of the ship, Air bubbles rise no more
In the depths of the Caribbean Sea, I Lost My Love : LENORE
My Heart and Mind in Unison, decided they could be :
The One’s that Swim from Shore to Shore, and bring Lenore back to Me
The Captain hands me a Transparent White Veil ,they found floating on the Sea
A tear in his eye, He Salutes: his Dress White Gloves wipe flowing Tears from me
YOUR Liege, With LOVE, ALWAYS and FOREVER...HG ( Harry )
To Be Continued
LOVE stands still , the Sun does not set in SORROW
The deep Caribbean Sea took LENORE from Me
In a Rainbow, Her Soul lies hidden in Kaleidoscope, Coral
ALWAYS and FOREVER YOUR Liege, with LOVE…HG
To Be Continue
Can You Remember; the day YOUR Voice, Died; to my Ears
To Lose my Wife Lenore : on Our Wedding Day all Those Years
Reminisce : in the History of Forever : “ The Day; the Dead, Survive “
How much more I want to “ LOVE YOU “ for that’s what Keeps me Alive
I Know YOU Will ALWAYS LOVE Me with All My LOVE for YOU
My Tears are unfulfilled Dreams; Crying for the Memory of my LOVE " YOU "
A Dedication To Eternal LOVE
A Tear scars my cheek, With no Time to Think
I watched My MOST BELOVED LENORE -- “ DIE “
Thrown Overboard, by a Boom not tied
The Tears I Cried
To Be Continued, if YOU Like??
YOUR Liege ALWAYS and FOREVER; HG ( Harry )
The Flashes, YOUR About to See
Are Memories, of LENORE and Me
When I said : “ I DO “, I meant “ I DO “
How Well I Know, YOU Meant it “ TOO “
For , ALWAYS and FOREVER: “ MY WIFE “
For , ALWAYS and FOREVER: “ MY LIFE “
Dedicated, in LOVING Memory; To my Wife
“ Lenore Ellen (Adams) JOHNSON “
Wisconsin winds are chill:
Hawk and whippoorwill
Are mourning in the skies
When their poet dies.
And at the Lonesome Place
Spirits fill the space
With whispers on the breeze
Billowing the trees.
Wisconsin winds will blow
Summers into snow,
But winds of Fame will sing
Evening in Spring.
The summer air hangs still.
Hawk and whippoorwill
Wing mournful down the graying skies…
Hearken to their cries!
And then the faintest breeze
Murmurs in the trees…
And at the Lonesome Place
Spirits sigh in space.
In ol' Songbe the choppers rise
From the sling-out pad with sleepy eyes,
All filled with special OD goodies--
Frags and doo just for the boonies.
We'll convoy up Rt. 309
And build a bridge
Where the French one stood.
The laterite is packed real tight
To support the five-tons through the fight.
The peneprime smells oooh just right
With body bags stacked in the hootch tonight.
So come sing the happy convoy song:
Santana is struming and "beer to the front!"
"Carry me back to ol' Kambuja,"
The electric guitars drift o'er the berm.
And the sweat is mixed with the three-two beer,
Nobody here is filled with fear,
And the stars by the thousands stand up to cheer
Santana and doo and a breeze from the sea.
The rockets are pretty seen from afar.
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