never
a one way
street
friendship
from a line by Li Po
old friends
on the shore
fading smiles
in the mist
you wave
moving off
all lost
in shadows
listening to Gene Pitney at one o’clock in the morning: for Steve
we’d sing along
to every cut
your croak
my wail
there in Ohio
a cornfield
our audience
youthful dreams
in our hearts
so long ago
we gonna be strong
going twenty-four hours
to Tulsa
hear me now
old friend
world without pity
my voice
to you
something I used to say, or at least according to Jimmy Powell I said it, though I seem to have lost it in the fog that covers much of those long ago years when alcohol, pinball, and bean & beef burritos from Lucy’s El Adobe at 2:30 in the am seemed to play a much too significant part in my life but thanks to Jimmy and also Randy Signor my memory is jarred awake on occasion to those moments of lucidity and foolishness that have left their impressions on my life
if I knew
I’d know,
but I don’t know
so I don’t know
friendship: how it works
you get back
what you put in
and you stop
putting in
when you stop
getting anything
back
The Plan by Wendell Berry
My old friend, the owner
of a new boat, stops by
to ask me to fish with him,
and I say I will–both of us
knowing that we may never
get around to it, it may be
years before we’re both
idle again on the same day.
But we make a plan, anyhow,
in honor of friendship
and the fine spring weather
and the new boat
and our sudden thought
of the water shining
under the morning fog.
anonymous Chinese poem: By Heaven!
By Heaven!
I will be your comrade,
and may our friendship never fail.
When mountains have no peaks
and rivers run dry,
when thunder rolls in winter
and summer snow falls–
only then will I desert you!
translated by Burton Watson
evening in Elmira
the cat moves
cautiously
around this newcomer
paw to foot
an experiment
the fan blows
a friend sleeps
the night quiet
here
in the upper regions
of New York State
and peace
in the heart
here
among friends
old friends
like lamp posts
shining light
where once
there was only
darkness
Drinking with a Recluse in the Mountains by Li Pai (Li Po)
The two of us drinking and wildflowers blooming
one cup another cup and still one more
I’m drunk and need to sleep and you’re about to go
tomorrow if you come again don’t forget your zither
translated by Red Pine
Leonard Durso 