Why

I seek no applause

For words are deaf

And poems are blind

But my heart knows

When I have written

Voice (to M. Espinosa)

After having just completed

My first good poem

I leapt to my

Feet in front of

My mentor and screamed

I found my voice

He grabbed my shoulder

And sat me down

Saying my dear boy

You’ve just begun to

Whisper and now forty

Years and thousands of

Poems I write with

The raspy voice of

Age preferring to whisper

Leaving the yelling to

The young and wondering

After all of this

Have I ever found

My voice at all

LoveAlone

And yet once again

I find myself saying

No to the things

That before I’d be

Saying yup yeah yessss

It’s odd you know

Realizing that for once

I have been satisfied

It’s like I no

Longer need Santa Claus

Cupid and Easter Bunny

Presents chocolates and eggs

Could love be like

That too now no

Longer needing the guy

Bringing the symbols to

Me and yet being

Able to enjoy the

Season alone in comfort

Both are indeed the

Fantasies of children and

Not required for me

There’s freedom in that

YouBean

I just saw a

Photo of someone else

Who I thought was

You but I knew

Wasn’t but the pangs

Of missing you reminded

Me of just how

Much I really do

Class

I could teach a

Master class in loving

Having done it often

But damn each time

That I finally learn

One I either pass

Or fail I guess

That learning to love

Is something that no

One ever graduates from

Because each new person

Is its own subject