Touching, Max. (The media here would have him as a heavily armed terrorist!)
Andrew
On 20 December 2014 at 04:21, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]
> wrote:
> Max that Ws father Christmas!!
> First line has a resonance to some Villon bloke or was that a play on
> meeting a villain cheers P
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Max Richards
> Sent: 17 December 2014 21:56
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: 'Winter Stranger' a poem for Christmas
>
> Winter Stranger
>
> Where are the snows of last week-end?
> The sun shines on that distant range
> without diminishing its glory.
>
> Shadows cluster round the dreck
> that didn't melt away when sidewalks
> dried - gutters stay ice-clogged.
>
> Sun each day promises warmth yet
> bright morning fades, noon's not high,
> afternoon short, sunset early, dark.
>
> The homeless, pitched in their camp
> near the freeway din by the iced
> slope the weather beats on, lie low.
>
> The length of our most genteel street
> is traversed by its evening traffic -
> dogs with their humans, those who work late.
>
> Under a light a young couple grapples
> in slow motion, not going anywhere
> but signaling Soon we must part.
>
> To our surprise, there looms a great
> lumbering heavy-laden tramp,
> as if just back from Siberia.
>
> A dark bedroll makes him seven feet
> tall, other clobber rounds him out.
> He's used to this, year round, but winter?
>
> My dog bristles - I take a sharp
> detour. Our eyes don't meet. Would
> he expect something from me? 'Good-day'?
>
> 'Have a good evening'? Charity?
> Proof he doesn't scare me? (I wouldn't
> call police - Salvation Army, maybe.)
>
> He may or may not know where he'll
> unroll his pack and lie down tonight.
> Dog and I suffer no such doubt.
>
> He sees our houses' bright lit trees, porches
> and windows, some hung with red stockings.
> Keep the children from view while he passes -
>
> you wouldn't want them to see him.
> He has nothing for them in his sack.
> You mightn't want him to see them.
>
> One last glimpse - our formidable
> stranger mid-street stooping as if
> for something dropped there, edible.
>
> Max Richards
> Seattle, December 2014=
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
'Undercover of Lightness'
http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
'Shikibu Shuffle'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html
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