TM Gallery

Sunday, January 15, 2017

for Rosie and Milt

From my cushioned seat on a back porch in January Florida

I am overlooking the drainage canal on a warm afternoon

Watching the tricolor heron at the water’s edge stalking fish

As a pair of glossy ibises enter the picture from stage right.

I get my camera and walk out to the canal margin

Taking photographs to take you there with me.

Now there are two tricolor herons and a little blue

And a kingfisher chattering in the near distance.

My thoughts are with you there in that Brooklyn apartment

Housebound for some years now in a wheelchair

Managing somehow to be your bedridden husband’s caregiver

Finding a way to keep it together with a sense of humor.

I am old now but you are older, old enough to be my mother

And I enjoy hearing your stories of the times of your life

When we come to visit with you there for an afternoon

As I remember as a child listening to my mother tell me about her life.

When I was a young man new to New York and unemployed

Your husband coached me how to use my knowledge to help others

Advocating to reverse unjust denial of unemployment benefits

Encouraging me through his enthusiasm for the labor struggle.

Infused with such a passion to make a workers revolution

He kept the fire alive for the next generation and the next

But you know the softer sweeter side of this man

As we have heard you tell of a place in the country enjoyed together.

These are happy memories to have and to hold

When events may take a dire turn

And life’s difficulties become a heavy burden

May this poem give you a respite from your cares.

Monday, January 16, 2017