Monday, November 13, 2017

First and Last: For Larry. Two Poems

The first poem, "Final Approach," I wrote while sitting in LAX almost thirty years ago in 1988 waiting for my then boyfriend, Larry, to arrive for a visit.  I was skeptical and full of doubts.  I felt certain that nothing would work out for me, and that this would just be another disappointment.  The second poem, "You Were A Fisherman," I wrote last month in Portugal while we were on vacation.  These seems to go together.  

Final Approach

As I sit at the airport,
Awaiting your flight
I think of how many before you
Have come and gone.
How many gates and terminals
Others have crossed
Moving in and out of lives.
I have kept vigils before
Over those who come close
then disappear.
Like a specter, drifting away,
and I have my own version of this.
Leaving without a word.
Touching down and taking off.
In my heart I go close,
Then fly off to other lands - 
Islands where silver fish
Feed out of my hand -
and I have seen you come and go
A Million times or more,
In disguises of beasts,
Pirates and wizards,
In the night like a stalker
You've landed in my dreams
And planted memories of moments
Yet lived my nights restless
With your promise.

But they have just announced
Your final approach
As I hurry to write these words
And wonder if this won't be
for the last time.
There is talk of fog,
A radar landing.
Remote control bringing you in.
But a calm comes over me
As if this were my last moments
Alive on this earth
and I am at peace
with all I have done.
I feel you touch down
In perfect visibility,
and I spread my wings
To take you in.





You Were A Fisherman

It came to me this afternoon
At lunch in Nazare.
What I hadn’t understood
In all these years.
Gazing into your sea-green eyes.
How else to explain
Your fear of water?
Of the ocean’s depths.
How you have felt the tide
Tugging at your toes
And so none of us drowned.
It was in your other life
That you were a fisherman.
You sailed the Atlantic
Your hands slimy with fish;
Your briny breath.
You were a fisherman
As you stood above the dark swirls
Just before I pulled you down
As you caught me
In your web,
In your tangled nets. 

4 comments:

  1. Wow !! Am speechless. No small feat, as you know. Love this, love you !

    ReplyDelete
  2. A room? Maybe we should. I'm sorry if this was somehow embarrassing. Who are you, Unknown?

    ReplyDelete