Lost at Sea
Tag Archives: Cancer
Feeding the Soul at Vargo’s
With Debbie Marshall at Vargo’s – a Houston restaurant that was located in a beautiful park-like setting with a lake, swans, peacocks and flowers
Never More Beautiful
FEEDING AMELIA
FEEDING AMELIA
I knew you’d come
was the first thing that she said
as she lay
cancer hollowed on her bed
On the second visit
Robin and I read her the poem
the one you usually get to read
only after they are dead
On the third visit
I brought mushroom soup
from the good restaurant across town
and fed it to her, spoon by gentle spoon
A last meal in three courses
LOST AT SEA
LOST AT SEA
Uncles, aunts, old friends and more
all sinking below the metaphor
on the way to that distant shore
The keel hauling of cancer
Walking Gehrig’s plank with ALS
Hanging from the yardarm
of emphysema’s choking rope
The lightning stroke of stroke
The sudden iceberg of heart attack
The slow arctic crush of hoary old age
Or slowly sailing, deeper and deeper
into Alzheimers’ fog bound banks
There are a thousand ways
to get back to the launching line
I’m not sure I’m ready yet
to speculate on mine
NEVER MORE BEAUTIFUL
NEVER MORE BEAUTIFUL
(for Lee Cherry)
Visited last year and again last month
with old friend Lee in Tennessee
Ten years and more of cancer
and that Chattannooga choo choo
may be pulling out soon
The skin has become
more and more transparent
the soul more and more shining through
I expect by the next time we drop in
a floating glimpse of Alice’s cat
with a Mona Lisa grin
THE MARLBORO MAN
THE MARLBORO MAN
There is no longer
a wild wild West to tame
or outlaws or Red Indians
to join in the old macho game
Of the testing of his manhood
and the building of his fame
And yet he retains the rugged look
of a steel-eyed firebrand
that can only be seen in the fearless few
who daily face death at every hand
Though now his risks are reduced
to trippin on the scenery
where he rides for a phony brand
And that cigarette in his hand
A DEBBIE MOMENT
A DEBBIE MOMENT
I was noticing again the other day
watching a movie, strangely enough
called “Remains of the Day”
that even though you died
you haven’t gone away
In the movie
a bird gets trapped in the house
and tries to fly
through the high ceiling glass
Remember the time in the office in Austin
when the sparrow was trying in panic to
escape in this way
You spoke to it in your stardust voice
and it landed in trust in your hand
I remember the windows you flew against
and your trust so light in my hands
And it’s a comfort to see
you and the sparrow
both flying free
LOUIS AND SUZANNE
LOUIS AND SUZANNE
Suzanne gets cancer
she gets cancer real bad
The doctors get out their big guns
They wage war with everything they’ve got
The cancer laughs at the doctors
It breaks out on many new fronts
The doctors, defeated, suggest surrender
Louis and Suzanne go to Mexico instead
Suzanne drinks fresh juices and does cleanses
Louis quits his job and takes care of Suzanne
Suzanne gets well
Louis takes care of many people
He took care of people in asbestos mines
For years he has not slept well
and he does not breathe well in the mornings
The doctors are treating him for sleep apnoea
Early this year he has a bad cough
The doctors do X-rays, Louis has cancer
Too much asbestos, ten years growing
It is too late for the doctors, or Mexico
Louis dies, life is funny
DEBBIE – SIX MONTHS LATER
DEBBIE – SIX MONTHS LATER
How can I write of your death
and writing make it real
how can I not and ever hope to heal
How can I write of the crab
without a hatred more than buzzard red
who will at least not eat you till you’re dead
How can my heart and hands be empty
with fullness of gifts I cannot give
How can it be you do not live
How like a vampire do I walk the night
and in a mirror no reflection see
Without a you where is the me?