Fort De Soto February 6, 2018

album

the eagle and the owl

for Milt and Rosie

He was her magnificent eagle

The way she saw him first

So handsome with his aquiline nose

When she put her enchanting moves on him.

Rosie told us this love story

How Milt caught her eye in Buffalo

Enthusiastically chanting on the picket line

Both of them young communists.

I think she was Milt’s wise owl and sharp wit

Giving him the kind of insight into people

That comes to her so easily

I wonder if she knows how special she is.

Their paired history together more than 60 years

From their thirties into their nineties

Living through so many shared events

Console her now remembering it all.

His fierce passion for the class struggle

Inspired us to engage in so many union battles

Alongside the comrades rallying to the cause

Struggling to make a workers’ revolution.

He took me under his wing in my youth

When I staffed the Center for United Labor Action

When I leafletted at the unemployment office

Encouraging me to help others win denied benefits.

If Milt stood up to talk he spoke in a shout

Calling for the overthrow of the capitalist bosses

His hatred was visceral leaving no doubt

For him the enemy was very personal.

With Rosie the typesetter as his partner

With Vinny and Libby they were a team

With Sam and Dottie they were our leaders

Able to bring forceful clarity to every question.

Now Rosie has outlived them all

Facing a future without her life partner

So difficult to be bereft of his companionship

How I wish I could ease her burden.

Rosie the resilient never ceases to amaze me

Taking whatever falls on her and finding the good

Cherishing beautiful transcending experiences

Treasures that can never be taken from her.

She gives to me more than I give to her

Appreciating my photos with her lively comments

Approving of what I write, giving me affirmations

How I hope we have her with us a while longer.

Northeast Pinellas February 3, 2018

album

passages

for Silas

The significance of becoming 12 is obvious

To the one whose birthday is happening

And for the rest of us it is a reminder

Biology does not count by base ten decades.

The transition from childhood to adult begins

As we learn to live in a changing body

With those around us changing how they see us

The boy who will be 12 is becoming a young man.

As his inches measure up a foot, my feet multiply by six

As 72 approaches I am becoming an old man

Passing along a world with so many wrongs

Needing the bold optimism of youth to right.

I think there will be a cake or some other dessert

To set aflame a baker’s dozen candles

Including one to grow on, as tradition says

With a secret wish that the child might transform us.

If I were placing the dozen candles

Plus one at the center that makes the total prime
I can see so many options for a geometric design

Because 12 is a very divisible number.

Some say that is why commerce sells by the dozen

And time periods count easily on the 12 hour clock face

But perhaps it is also an inheritance from the Sumerians

Base 12 number system thousands of years old.

The ancestors built up what is good in the world we have

Inventing such a better way of life than before

Now our problems in that context are opportunities to solve

And history says we will figure it out.