Calico Cuban cats devouring a cheese cone
Des Moines deer directing a driven drone
Elmhurst elk writing out an elongated poem
Fresno felines frolicking in feathery sea foam
Gary’s gorillas grabbing themselves a grooming comb.
Hanover’s hefty hags happily losing their home
Illinois iguana playing his slide trombone
Jersey’s jackalopes creeping up on a bone
Kingston’s kangaroos sitting as still as stone
Liverpool’s little linguistic feeling all alone
Mammoth meerkat wanting Cuban cat’s cheese cone
Never-do-well’s nemesis capturing deer’s driven drone
pork steaks, cut into small bits
an onion, chopped fine
a nice hot fresno pepper
strong, yellow curry
garden-fresh peaches
combine and
feast!
I stuffed my pockets full of California minutes,
Set out from Bakersfield before the break of day.
Checked out a waitress at a coffee shop in Needles
Then blew through Flagstaff on my way to Santa Fe.
Cut loose and rootless, making random left-hand turns
Straight razor whiskey, gotta love the way it burns
Pulled up at Pueblo for my ration of tequila
Long after hours in the Garden of Repose.
I paid my lady love a call in Carson City,
Got tanked in Reno with a Sacramento rose.
Street lamps and neon on a warm midsummer’s night
Drawn toward the tunnel at the end of so much light
Broke bread in Stockton with a Guatemalan dancer.
Shook down a flop house called The Shady Rest Motel.
Laid low in Fresno for the balance of my paycheck,
Got back to Bakersfield in time to raise some hell.
I’m gonna ramble till the swallows leave for Egypt.
Gonna ramble till the Happy Prince goes blind.
I’m gonna ramble till I’ve gathered up my troubles.
Gonna ramble till I’ve left ‘em all behind.
Might put my suitcase under the bed,
But I always leave it packed for later.
As I’m bowed, in cares distraught
Lightness unbends, thru an arbor caught
In the rigid coils of tight binds
Gladness interlaces with vines that unwind
Netted in a shadow of grasping night
Moonlit petals glow their reflective sight
Entrenched in weight of concrete inveighs
Nectarine wings point the scented airy way…
This entry is just the beginning of sanctuary
Gardens small grow and call the wisdom of trees…
Utopian dreams realign where nature breathes
Inviting serenity in wraps of soothing wreathes
Deep as the roots and high as a sun-ride
Elevation is granted where greenery’s the guide.
(8/18/2020: '87 Skipjack 28; Fresno. Sanctuary contest)
Instead of names, we're often called
By where we do reside,
So, "Hey, New York!" we're greeted with,
A simple ID guide.
Thus Texas, Fresno, Cleveland
And Kentucky we have met
And Arkansas and others
We have not conversed with yet.
A member of the crew, as well,
Who helped us, with delight,
We learned lives now in London
But was from the Isle of Wight.
So later, in the evening,
While we watched a staged revue,
I realized a performer
Was a friendly face I knew.
The singers mingled with the crowd
At their performance end
And thus I had a chance to chat
With my new English friend.
"Hey, Isle of Wight!" I sang out,
"You were great up on that stage!"
He beamed in recognition,
Such a nice way to engage.
she never worked
she collected disability and child support
no ambition
3 kids from to fathers.
she was lost in the backdrop of a California valley.
I plead guilty to being stupid,to actually tolerate a woman like this....
damaged
used up she was.
I thought I could fix this,but you learn the hard way that bandaids can only cover so much.
was it love
who knows
under her mask was a reality more powerful than whiskey.
I did all I could do while she did nothing
In the end I held emptiness
Doing The Right Thing
Somewhere in Fresno, Central California....
A family popped into a diner for a meal together...
When they left, they left behind a canvas pouch...
A cool $32k, in 100USD notes, was within this pouch...
The amount was equivalent to a year's wages for a waiter..
Yet the waiter who found the bag, never hesistated at all..
He passed it to his supervisor, the owners finally called..
Overjoyed they got the pouch with the money intact all..
The waiter, he refused a reward, even refused to be named...
Saying, it was the right thing to do, it was not his to claim..
Now this is one honest man, honest even no one was looking..
He deserves to be praised, he could have been on easy street really..
There was nothing actually to stop him from pocketing his find...
There was no cctv monitoring over in that part of the diner
Only the inborn voice of conscience and his innate good values...
Crowded out any fledgling thoughts of taking any of those money...
This very honest man is the ultimate example of a fine citizen...
His exemplary code of honesty is a timely reminder to all men and women...
cheers!
There are boats resting on the Idaho shore.
The west coast we once knew is no more.
Frisco and Los Angeles we can no longer see.
They have become places in our history.
Oakland and Fresno are at the bottom of the sea.
They are like the Atlantis of antiquity.
We tried to warn the populace, but to no avail.
It only took one good shake on the Richter Scale.
Goodbye to what we knew as “California”.
Let’s spend some time on the beach in Nevada.
I tried balancing a bowl of hot oatmeal on my lap and reading his poems in my tired and
worn, green chair.
On the back cover of a collection, a reviewer wrote “Simic may end a poem with a kiss
or a bludgeon. “
The reader will never know.
Blackjack Fresno Johnny sent me a big box of books of Simic’s poems. The books were sent
in a cardboard box inside of another cardboard box, thoughtfully packed. The address label
read:
To Tom Pitre, Poet.
It is my first affirmation as a poet.
I am always surprised when I read his work. Sometimes I think I have my finger on his
secrets, and then it slips away when I read another one. They are simple. He can write
about an earthworm in the mud, and you will be enchanted.
I once had a friend named Sally
Who loved the Fresno Valley.
Her desire to travel
Soon did unravel
A wee one dubbed Callie O'Malley.