URGE TO REACH OUT

I have these strange ‘urges’, we’ll call them, or inspirations, that just happen and are difficult to resist. Thank goodness. A few days ago I got the urge to send postcards to my daughter and my brother, with a poem that would pretty much come out and get scrawled down in the moment…as unvarnished and spontaneous as I could manage it…although truth be told I can’t help changing a thing or two even before I get to the end, but I did manage to keep normal perfectionist anxiety in check. Restricting them in length to what would fit on a postcard, and taking it to the post office, a comforting, enjoyable, very ‘old school’ kind of process, with the exception of the new wearing of the mask as I stuck the cards in the slot. But still saying the briefest of prayers that they would make their destination with a Mr. McFeely kind of “Speedy Delivery” and brighten a heart ‘out there’. And I did that on two consecutive days. Below you’ll find what came out. Note that there was a time there in San Francisco when I would write something down to my young brother every day….whizzing around curves and going down hills on my way here and there on buses and in the gas station. Now out of the blue, where so much good stuff floats around, I returned to that tradition and brought my daughter into it with us.

WAITING FOR THE DAY
Today finally got here
all sharp and bright
and chock full of possibilities
No media on
Looking out the back window
not having any idea
what is going on in the whole rest of the world
Or even next door
which is strangely comforting
stretching out the kinks
Breathing for real
minor wind blowing the leaves on branches
in such a way
as if sending a message
I’m curious still yes
but I don’t work too hard trying to interpret it.

5.15.20

POSTCARD ONE DAY DURING THE PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN
Greetings from inside my humble abode
greetings too from inside my spinning head
full of memories of
Highways pushing on to either ocean
wide beaches with boardwalks and waves
whose steady cadence hypnotized
As night would fall
As if telling you to close your eyes
you are getting sleepy and
you can’t help but obey
Memories of trips
passing cows and billboards
cruising through the quaintest small towns
oozing history and dusty charm
Snapping photographs of scenes and perfect moments
to send like postcards dashed off
with fondness and wonder from being somewhere else
and witnessing what I could only have imagined
Wishing you were here
Wherever this was
Wherever I am.