if this poem
were a love song,
it’d sound like Patsy Cline
on a late night out
on the corner of Broome and Mulberry,
the streets filling up with darkness
as you wrap your arms
around my red-stilettoed silence.
its only melody would be the swell
of a gray-green Atlantic
breaking on the shores from Hatteras
to Westerly, where i wrote names
in the sand. early May was once
a time for love songs, you see, but
i have generally forgotten
how they used to go. so this poem
is just a poem, though it slips
off the tongue like quicksilver,
like that lemonade
we bought from those girls
in Gale’s Ferry, a block from where
you used to live.
this poem and i, we
can appreciate the tang
of memory, its pucker & squint,
just as we do a fear of falling, as if
we were dancers
on a pole at the top of a forty-
floor walkup with one arm flung wide.
it was a dream i had, once,
but whether the pole was hope
or doubt this poem won’t say,
so i am never sure when to let
go & have never yet
learned to whistle. much less
to sing.
the tenth muse 
This was one of my favorite poems of yours…there was a tone to it which I found most appealing and honest.
wow, thanks, sl.
The title drew me in and then I loved the feel of this. I love that none of the sentences end at the end of a stanza except the last one. There is wistfulness, a drop of bittersweet and mostly honey here and I enjoyed every thick, golden morsel. Whoever this woman is, tell her I really like her point of view and I love her talent, big as the ocean and just as refreshing.
mostly honey, yes, Mosk. š good to hear from you.
I believe you sing in a very strong voice! This just took me on a journey, easy to get lost in your story.
on a journey… kinda exactly what i was hoping for! thanks, andrea. š
ha. really cool progression in this one…appreciate it like we do a fear of falling…smiles…i like that…and lemonade…one of my fav drinks….slp said it, there is an honesty to this and yet a strength as well that makes this verse very appealing…want to hear this one next time i come up….
i’ll keep that in mind. i do take requests, you know. smiles.
I love, especially, that second stanza..:) Great write!
thanks, jacquie! š
I love coming here.
Awesome as always.
that comment made me smile. thanks, wanderer.
Loved this. Etta James instead of Patsy Kline I would have preferred…some lovely windswept imagery here. Nice…. reminiscing,whimsy and wistfulness.
aw, I had to go with Patsy. she’s from my home town. š windswept, yes, a good word for it. thanks for commenting.
go & have never yet
learned to whistle. much less
to sing.
Me neither. Anyway they are much overrated. Dreaming is just fine.
cheers to that, Carl!
Great imagery–and I’ll second Patsy Cline. Very nice.
sweet! is there a “like” option here for comments? š thanks.