In the Middle of Winter

My daughter Sophia drew this tree last year in the middle of summer, at the office while waiting for me to finish my work. I instantly fell in love with it and wrote a poem for it soon after. Now, the middle of winter, seems the appropriate time to share it on my blog.  My sister said, "That's an Ohio winter tree, for sure!"

Solitary tree, stripped bare of adornment,

Winds revealed your bare bones, bent
Yet strong. In your stark elegance
You bow and sway in the elements --
a dancer in her crowning performance.
Do you hear the applause of the angels...
Or of anyone walking by?

Rumble Through Whenever You Wish

New York Central train along the Hudson, scanned from
an old postcard I found in my family archives.

Rumble Through Whenever You Wish

As I listen tonight, all alone,

to some new music

streaming from the internet,

a train whistle interrupts,

strong and robust --

a melody from an iron belly.

And now as I write, I hear another train answering the first,

and I am back to the front bedroom in my grandfather's house

lying in bed watching the breeze move the luminous curtains,

listening to the tick tick tick of the Big Ben alarm clock,

and then the heavy engine of the locomotive as it begins to rumble

into the quiet, just at the end of Summer Avenue.

I hear the heavy whooo whooo of its welcome --

I am here...I am here....whoo whooo....

Listen as I thunder by.

I listen, and my heart smiles its reply.

Dedicated to the memory of J.O. McGoey,
my grandpa, and a New York Central train conductor.

Love From Dreamland

The other night I was writing,
Wrestling with pain and frustration,
Pulling up fearsome images that had settled
    in my soul like a hacking cold
Until I could find no more.
And then, emptied at 2am,
I found myself finally ready for sleep.
I turned off the light and felt my way up the stairs
and found that my daughter had fallen asleep in my bed.
A couple of books lay where I wanted to be.
I'm sorry, I whispered, as I turned on the light to moved things.
I love you too, she said from her faraway dreamworld.
What? What did you say? I asked.
I wanted to hear it again, now that I was really listening.
But it had gone, as easily as it had come.