LOVE IN WARD THREE

I saw her first through
a haze of throbbing pain and
mind-mooshing pain-killers.
Her face, angel lovely, bent over
mine, asked if I wanted ice
on my lips. Her voice was
a purr. Later, in brighter
light, I saw all of her.
The sight fueled my fantasies
for years afterwards.

Then, though, it was love.
I didn't need Ernest
Hemingway to tell me
that young men in pain
will fall helplessly
hopelessly in love
with young nurses.

When I asked her name
she said Cassandra
but my friends call me
Sandy. May I call you
that? I asked. O yes
she said and smiled
me back to sleep.

MARCH GLADNESS

I rake away last October's
oak leaves from the west
garden bed and find, as I hoped
I would, green fingers poking
through the soil like newly
wakened children pulling themselves
up from slumber into the morning
of spring's promise. I stand
there smiling, a dopy,
delighted, daffodil daddy.

OBJECTION!

The proverbial straw that broke
the proverbial camel's back
of my bite-your-lip forbearance
was deposited last night.
It was a word spoken in a TV commercial.
The speaker, a young woman
-- 22 or 23, I'd guess --
had just popped into her mouth
a "brand new, all-natural,
delightfully refreshing"
(according to the words flashed
on the screen in neon yellow letters)
stick of chewing gum.
She turned her smiling face
to us, the viewers, and spoke
the word: AWESOME.

Okay, okay, I confess. I lost it,
shouted at the screen
my one word -- NOOOO!

Chewing gum flavor may be sweet
or minty, perhaps pleasingly
tasty, but it simply
can not be awesome.

Words have power.
Let's show some respect.


P.S. Okay, I'll admit, I am a former English teacher, but still . . .

AUGUST SENTRIES

I see them now,
the solidago, tall and bright
and yellow, standing
at attention along country
roads, end-of-summer soldiers.

Ninety years ago, my mother
was thrilled by their appearing.
I know because she told me.
"I loved to see the goldenrod,"
she said. "It meant that
school would soon begin."

I could not understand.
I hated school, dreaded
summer's end, questioned
Mother's sanity. Not out loud,
of course. I kept my dread
inside. I went out back
and walked along the creek.
I found a rank of goldenrod.
I took a stick and
hacked them to the ground.