it’s like a Frank Sinatra song
a bartender named Joe
why they’re always called Joe
is beyond me
but why the bottle’s always the same
is another burning question
on what’s left of my mind
so set them up
one more for the road
and like old Deacon Blues
I’ll play a saxophone
or maybe a trumpet
killing the blues
all the way home

they talk about roads not taken
but I think of roads took
choices made
that led me here
so very far from home
and home is where you go
when there’s no place left
to run
a familiar landscape
under a familiar sun

sometimes you’re reading a book
or watching a movie
or there’s a scene from a play
where a character says something
that strikes you as so appropriate
to what’s going on in your life
that you go ah ha
just like that
and lights flash
bells ring
and the fog
if there is one
lifts
and thanks to a movie
this time
I had an ah ha moment
and so see clearly
what there is to see
and so know
what there is to know
once again

there was your laugh
almost comical
like some Walt Disney carton character
yukking your way
into the hearts of men
you had that way of standing
with your head tilted
to the side
and that look
that could only be called
askance
as you eyed me
half amused
the other half suspicious
never quite sure
when I was serious
and maybe I wasn’t either
it was hard to be
in those turbulent times
but you got serious
about that sci-fi religion
and getting clear
of what though
I never quite understood
especially when after all those years
you got the brand wrong
on my bourbon
insult to injury
but you had a lot
to remember
back then
and names brands men
all sort of blurred
I guess
and now I’m not quite sure
why I thought of you
today of all days
it’s a good week past
what was your…

Sicilian red wine
listening to Butterworth
popcorn in a bowl
while rereading Hemingway
the cat asleep in my lap

a voice
not my own
but suspiciously like yours
keeps waking me
at all hours
depriving me of sleep
whispering things
I haven’t heard
in many years
and fool that I am
I believe
and don’t believe
every single word