A long look at both, Max, & nicely tuned. But maybe not mention that Wellness Center until the final line of 1? Would carry greater oomph?
I do like the finish of 2, moving…
Doug
> On Mar 2, 2016, at 8:55 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> The Couple
>
> 1.Wellness in Seattle
>
> There’s a man I see
> walking jerkily
> as befits his age
> up that steep street
>
> from Bellevue
> where the park
> on the corner
> lets him shorten
>
> his route a bit.
> I note his breathing
> shortens too,
> lungs and legs
>
> no doubt not
> what they were.
> Next corner has
> Analog Coffee -
>
> frequented, so he
> suspects, by IT nerds.
> He never goes in.
> Sits a while facing
>
> the Wellness Center,
> checks his phone,
> resumes his saunter.
> Is he heading for
>
> Molten Chocolate
> Cakery? (newly
> opened just blocks away).
> No, he’s climbing
>
> again, up to Broadway,
> crossing near the railway
> station (opening soon)
> so he can enter
>
> Cal Anderson Park
> away from traffic,
> where when it’s warmer
> kids will paddle
>
> and that drake seeming
> all green sheen hotly
> pursuing his drab duck
> aflutter past the water
>
> helter-skelter
> may have a brood
> of vulnerable
> fluffy hatchlings
>
> to look out for.
> Beyond the play-field
> and its fake turf -
> its ball games, hectic
>
> footwear, boys showing
> off to girls, homeless
> types sorting their gear -
> he passes Lost Lake Cafe
>
> where sated clients
> pass leftover-boxes
> to sidewalk campers,
> turns back to Oddfellows’
>
> new ‘little’ cafe (near
> the big old) because it’s
> tucked away in Seattle’s
> best bookshop, Elliott Bay.
>
> Legs can sprawl,
> lung-puff and heart-beat
> get back to normal,
> eyes and mind enjoy
>
> a free read - better
> than a library -
> with cake and coffee.
> Chatting with nobody
>
> but the barista (over
> his loud-grinding machine),
> eavesdropping wherever
> he possibly can,
>
> that’s his social life,
> transitory alien,
> out without his wife.
> All this and an easy-chair
>
> snooze will prepare
> him for the walk back -
> a well-beaten track
> he likes to take
>
> once or twice a week,
> hoping - mind and body
> exercised - decrepitude's
> advance delayed -
>
> never will he
> feel the need to enter
> the suspiciously
> named Wellness Center.
>
> 2.Myalgic Encephalitis
>
> Languishing in bed?
> No, she says, accepting,
> this is my disability -
> which may never lift.
>
> Life can still be relished,
> especially through this window,
> through these books, all fresh,
> this world-roving laptop.
>
> The clouds on good days
> shuffle over, shape-shifting -
> rabbits - various dogs -
> all attract her camera eye.
>
> She shops online, shoes arrive,
> more than her non-walking
> needs; if they don’t fit
> they’re easily returned.
>
> I say: who’s sent you a gift
> from Israel? Oh - she sent
> for it - opal - tiny - perfect
> star of David, for her neck.
>
> The stone, I wonder -
> from Australia? crafting
> done who knows where?
> Tiny chain, tiny star.
>
> May I take it and her
> somewhere to show it off?
> The ME forbids.
> It too stays in bed.
>
> We’ll go by Lyft car
> to her appointment,
> then a cafe, briefly.
> Straight home to bed.
>
> To think she once studied
> and starved in Jerusalem!
> Worked long hours in
> demanding Melbourne.
>
> The past is not lost -
> it lurks for recall, returns
> with a precious lustre
> cupped in the hand
>
> or linked, clasped finely
> to her thoughtful person.
Douglas Barbour
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https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
Done in by creation itself.
I mean the gods. Not us. Well us too.
The gods moved into books. Who wrote the books?
We wrote the books. In whose dream, then are we dreaming?
Robert Kroetsch.
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