Nostalgia Poems

do you remember way back when
golden pleasures of simplicity
the magic of human connectivity 
it all seemed unpretentious then



posted on February 15, 2020...Read More

I’m young enough
and old enough

And smart enough
and dumb enough

And rich enough
and poor enough

To laugh enough
and cry enough

But fast enough
and slow enough

To guess enough
and know enough

To take enough
and give enough

To think enough
—and feel enough

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2020)

...Read More

A photograph in black and white
can excite my heart's pert rainbow
with emotions that reignite
sweet love feels lived decades ago.

Sentimental tears feel not woe
but nostalgia held weepy tight
and stirred deeply by a photo
in black and white hugging me bright.




... CayCay
February 14,...Read More

From my cabin in Willow, Alaska,
Sleeping Lady greets me each day,
she is the princess 'Susitna' who is asleep,
her story is woven with several myths,
Grandma told me a native legend of old,
about a young woman who waited in vain
for her warrior...Read More

Yes, we had a washer, but no dryer yet
So we hung our clothes out on the line to dry
with those old wooden clothes pins, you know  
and after dinner we retired to the balcony
to sit and sip tea, often...Read More

Sitting silent
In a black bubble of seclusion
The moon hangs low
In the stillness of the night
So clearly
So distinct
The memory of you
It calls to me
Thunderous
A shiver
A haunting beckoning



posted on February 10, 2020...Read More

Forever forgive me
For my one and only iniquity
Please forgive me
With forbearance eternally

Lots of anger and lust
Got a hold of me…
So, I must...oh, I must…
Set my soul free

Forever forgive me
Determine my footsteps to the light
Emotionally unhappy
Intervene in my life with utter...Read More

Do you ever feel like a man out of time? 
Like you would be more at home in the days of yore.
Or days yet to pass.
And ask yourself. 
Is this really my life?
That feels like a story. Written badly. ...Read More

At Chefoo Reconsidered we did speak
Of faith as something we as children held
To be most precious, with our parents’ fierce
Example holding us to sacred truths
But now as adults with accomplished years
We looked with cool detachment on that fire
And wondered if...Read More

The  princess phone was ringing off the hook
Her frayed nerves were really shook.

...Read More

THE JUNK PILE
                        
             ...Read More

I rummage through a box
of old photographs. A lady’s image
holds my eye: I hold her up to 
light filtering of a window.

The edges are frayed, a scratch
cuts across her face, a scar
now permanent yet transient,
does not disturb the hardness

of her...Read More

Scrambled legs hopping and jumping
Rear ends jiggling, blood is pumping
Modern dancing in the late 60’s is cool.
Sent more than one lad to military school.

This is outrageous parents were saying.
Bellbottoms and bare bellies had them praying.
Free love announced on cups and...Read More

Old jars on the windowsill,
collect the dust from arid days
when the sun beats down on them,
making labels fade away like
memories of long ago when hearts
were younger and the logos were
brighter and easier to read.
...Read More

MAGNETIC NORTH

A house misses you.
You don’t live there now.
It’s delighted to see you.
It pulls you to it’s curb.

A house misses you.
You happen by.
That dark window,
knows your outside.

That house misses you!
There are the violets.
Once grown in a window.
They are now, long...Read More

We were all much younger, happier then,
And untouched by heartache, sadness;
In dreams, we go back again and again,
And bring to our hearts gladness!

From Grandpa Frank, father of the Fields,
And Miss Pauline, who married his boy;
The hand of fate's no longer...Read More

Long day ...
Trudging jungle mud of the Da Krong
On the dirty heels of Charlie ...
At least eight skirmishes and a tunnel rout

Our platoon weaned of three more
The luck of the unlucky, headed home ... boxes
We took eleven, and made an...Read More

There's a spot on the horizon
In the ripple of the sun
Where railway lines and stanchions fuse
And merge, becoming one.

30th January 2020


From the poem: "Carnforth" (21st October 2019)

Entered into: "Arbitrium Divisa 7 Poetry Contest"

Sponsored by Gregory R. Barden

...Read More

Do, re, mi
Do you still remember me?
I sat in front of my piano, wondering where the voice was coming from.
And I pondered, oh I pondered,
Who are you? And what do you want?

I heard nothing.
Not a single breeze of wind had...Read More

As the days get longer
And summer already gone
Time to curl up in a corner 
For the unforgiving cold

Memories of a warm day
Call back from yesteryear
Long fled those bright rays
Dense darkness prime fear...Read More

pieces of cotton
grandma’s fantastic quilting
memory blanket...Read More

gorgeous nostalgia
embroidered pillowcase
selected colors...Read More

Smoke blew from the chimneys
in the place where I was born
streets were laid with cobbles
workers summoned by a horn.

Shops sold all and sundry
and the keepers name was Ted
I often bought my sweets there
with pennies gleaned from lead.

Our neighbor wore an...Read More

What is it about nostalgia
That makes us relive memories
Through rose colored lenses
As if in real time we’d been mistaken
About the slightest triviality of our life

Look through the rearview mirror
Everything seems different
Might the distortion be in the present
More so than in...Read More

Took an old memory out and cried a little
Seems time has taken its toll
Remembered drag racing on the stretch
Beer party down at Devil’s Hole
Pack of Luckies at Dutch Hill Park
Campfire in the Pines late at night
Like blood brothers, times were...Read More