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
old friends
what was yesterday: for Marion Gittleman
a note
in my inbox
brings memories
of dark eyes
of mystery
then as now
and names
crop up
of crazy times
knowing how to laugh
as if time
was on our side
ah youth
so quickly gone
and now the slow fade
to what awaits
tomorrow
warmed by what was
yesterday
taking the lead from Jia Dao’s Inn at Niyang
in sorrow
they fade
those old friends
of mine
into the mist
of receding time
and I here stranded
in the present
straining to see
their faces
aching to hear
their voices
before I too
fade away
lost to those
I leave behind
at Leo’s: for the boys & girls upstate
the price
of drinks food
varied
any given night
depending on how
he felt
about you
years fade
years fade
as friends
reemerge
from the past
on the lack of saints: in memory of some people I used to know
there were no saints
on those streets
you walked on
then
and now
wherever now is
just torn boys
turning into men
with conflicts raging
within
trying to live up
to some ideal
put upon you
carrying the scars
one gets
on body
on soul
and I
no longer your witness
carry you still
in my ravaged heart
on shadows: for Steve
the world
has been reduced
to shadows
and though I sit
next to you
on the bench
you only see
a shadow
where my face is
the food
on your plate
the club soda
in your glass
are shadows
you know
the East River
is out there
can hear it
the seagulls calling
can even smell it
but it belongs
to a world
in shadow
that one day
will be black
and though you talk
of alternatives
there is fear
undercoating
your words
as the rest
of your health
slips away
into shadows
taking you
unwillingly
along
Taking A Trail Up From Deva-king Monastery To The Guesthouse Where My Friend Wang Chung-hsin And I Wrote Our Names On A Wall Fifty Years Ago, I Find The Names Still There by Lu Yu
Meandering these greens, azure all around, you plumb antiquity.
East of the wall, above the river, stands this ancient monastery,
its thatched halls we visited so long ago. You a mountain sage,
I here from Wei River northlands: we sipped wine, wrote poems.
Painted paddle still, I drift awhile free. Then soon, I’m nearing
home, azure walking-stick in hand, my recluse search ending.
Old friends dead and gone, their houses in ruins, I walk through
thick bamboo, deep cloud, each step a further step into confusion.
translated by David Hinton
might have been: for Maureen
you & I
will always be
in our early 30s
in LA
you up the road
from me
on Coast Highway
coming to work
at I&L
on Tuesdays & Thursdays
and me
spending too many evenings
drinking bourbon
in the Airlane Bar
across the street
and how life
might have been different
as you once mentioned
in Venice
if we had made
other choices
back then
all the men
at I&L
were a little bit
in love with you
but certainly no more
than me
I often wonder
if I had been sober
more often
had acted sooner
what might have
could have
happened
but we did
what we did
chose
what we chose
lived
as best we could
under the circumstances
but always
always in my mind
you are up the road
from me
overlooking the ocean
and I just never seem
to arrive
on the right day
the first day of Bayram: for Ali
breakfast soup
a drive to Foça
old narrow streets
a touch of ancient Greece
talk of old times
over cay
of mutual friends
of almost love
lost love
mistakes made
lessons learned
the comfort
of the familiar
in a new old world
on the first day
of Bayram
and there is the future
laid out
in the open
just like it’s supposed
to be
Leonard Durso 