New Poem: CAN’T SAY IT IN 30 SECONDS

 received the invitation to summarize

 my brief stint in community theatre 

 as both teenage student and volunteer 

 turned on the video recorder red light

 said it too slow, tried again

 delivered it rapidly, a little better

 but I don’t have that special skill

 of highlighting one year 

 in the space of a TV or radio commercial 

 >

 if I had, say, five minutes to

 discuss the plays I’d seen,

 some of the people I met

 and how the experience was positive 

 it probably still wouldn’t be enough 

 but I’m glad someone asked for a testimonial 

 

 

New Poem: HALF DEAD MALL

 it was a sign of the End Times 

 when the Dillards department store

 which dressed affluent women and men

 was closed justlikethat 

 and reborn as a gigantic arcade

 POSTSCRIPT:  The above poem refers to Sikes Senter shopping mall in Wichita Falls, TX.  It was built in 1966, then sat empty until October of 1974.  What remains (including a Boot Barn, a Hot Topic, a Books-a-Million and an AMC multiplex) will celebrate its 50th anniversary next month.

New poem: WICHITA FALLS BLUES

 fiftysomething man
 sits far away from the heat and drought
 reads the Twitter post
 from a young Wichita Falls Texas resident
 about how the city is now known
 for drinking recycled "pee water"
 while waiting for rain
 >
 I thought Kevin Costner
 consuming his own body fluids
 in WATERWORLD
 would always be science fiction,
 muses the former Wichita Falls resident
>
 imagining a young man
 going to the Kemp Public Library
 for a few hours of air-conditioned refuge
 passing by the front door sign:
 DON'T BRING YOUR GUNS IN HERE!
>
 it wasn't exactly this way
 when the fiftysomething man lived there
 long long before the abundance of heat
 and the lack of water
 and the tax base shrinking
 and the schools closing
 and the Grand Old Party politicians
 broadcasting and e-mailing
 messages of hate and fear
 plus appeals for campaign cash
 from the relative comfort of Austin
>
 seeding poisonous rain clouds
 that the city of Wichita Falls--
 whether you like it or not--
 can certainly do without
 as citizens wait and pray
 for the real thing to come along