50+ Lifestyles

A Pause for Poetry

By Gary Heath
Poet in Residence for 50+ Lifestyles.

 

 

 

 

In His Glider on the Porch

He unfolds from his car as if

Magnetically pulled toward

The old, clapboard meeting

Place. He loves the wraparound

Porch where their minds sparkled

Into the night. A motley grove of

Trees embowers the ancient pile.

Rough planks of wood lean against

The shed in shabby disarray. A utility

Pole shoots into the sky, blooming

Into a net of wires fingering through

The trees. He climbs the sagging

Wooden steps to his accustomed

Glider, the one he bought long ago.

Now he glides to and fro, metronome

Of memory. He gazes at the moon

Climb through the wires and trees

Toward the stars and galaxies whose

Mysteries once drew them close. Only

He remains to mark their deep encounters

With the stars in his glider on the porch.

 

Victory at Sea

A brilliant cerulean sky, a

Bright day, the day my

Roommate and I parted,

End of our senior year. We

Did not know what the future

Held, Vietnam made certain

The uncertain. Two young

Men in a watershed time,

Where to spend their youth,

In this turbulent era. We

Talked as long as we could,

Till his Dad picked him up,

With all this stuff, topped

By his stereo system that

Ruled our room. He wore

Headphones, yet I could

Feel the crescendos of

Victory at Sea, he loved to

Play. My parents picked me

Up next, a somber drive home,

At least for me. I am sure my

Parents felt my melancholy,

Though not the crescendos

In Victory at Sea.