your lips moved
but your words
didn’t reach me
drowned out
by the surf
the gulls crying
the wind that rustled
your hair
mine
and the years
that soon existed
between us
memory
something stirs
a name
on the tip
of my tongue
I cannot dislodge
but the face
so clearly
in focus
as something
stirs like emotion
causing tears
to wet my beard
drinking whiskey at 7am in Moda as a sleepless night turns to waiting for the slow breaking of the day
on my tongue
that sweet bliss
of Irish
melting away
what once was
and still is
not to be forgotten
as I move along
this worn path
toward all of you
long gone
except from my heart
my heart
my heart
last night: for JEP
last night you came
again complaining
of the journey
across limitless sky
riding a cloud
like some ancient hero
you always wanted
to be
can’t you find
someone there
to talk to
you ask
some weariness
I notice
in your voice
not like you
I say in reply
not like you
and then there is
your famous twinkle
in your eyes
and the room
grows bright
with remembering
this heart
this heart
bursts
remembering
words hitting the air
fingers reaching out
the light in eyes
no longer here
oh my oh my
this heart
this heart
on the curb still
there on the curb
in Hollywood
you talk of Franny & Zooey
some scene you’re playing
asking my advice
about the scene
your reading
your life
slipping away
from where I sit
and later I watch
as you walk away
so far away
that I cannot follow
on the curb still
with this hole
in what was
my heart
on corners long since empty: for Joey, Kevin, & Vic
they met
on corners long since empty
of their memory
names chalked
on concrete pillars
under the el
faded in time
and the rumble
of trains passing
overhead
going toward futures
they never knew
nor dreamed of
lives as brief
as cigarette ash
or the candles
flickering in windows
of the empty houses
of their youth
incense burns
incense burns
cedarwood scent
eyes heavy
whiskey taking
its toll
but somehow
some way
the mind stays
focused
on the memory
of a dog
snuggling up
to a drunken lush
mumbling lyrics
to some song
half remembered
from a time
long since past
from a poem by Hwang Jini: an endless stream: for JEP
you asked
did we really
drink that much
and I laughed
remembering
the empty glasses
the clinking of bells
on pinball machines
those 3am burritos
your mischievous twinkle
in your eyes
when pulling on beards
of argumentative Texans
and that drunken race
up that hill
in Malibu
we both claimed
to have won
there’s that wistful smile
when I think of parting
and a longing
in my heart
like an endless stream
toward the memory
of we two
on cheerleaders and ice cream
there was the ice-cream parlour
on the corner
of Sunrise Highway
and Atlantic Avenue
that you never frequented
but she sat there
on a stool
among the many high school jocks
who admired her long legs
and slender ankles
that bright cheerleader smile
the girl you pined for
but hope faded
when she called you
dear friend
and patted your hand
like a pet dog
while she glided down rows
of desks
toward the front
leaving you in the back
next to the window
gazing out
hoping to see
the future
you belonged in
but which clearly
did not hold
ice-cream parlours
and cheerleader smiles
Leonard Durso 