mmmmcmxcviii

needs

who’s needed are the mountains

who’s needed is the sea

i’m thirsty where’s my fountain

pen what’s wanted here’s not me

wants

mmmmcmxcvii

take the time to allow your friend

to finish what he is saying before speaking again

take a breath

and do not speak until he is finished saying whatever he has

to say,

whatever he is

trying to tell you at this very moment

take a moment to listen to your friend

the person standing with you, let him finish what he’s saying

mmmmcmxcvi

the youngest swan

dipped inelegantly and

cooed a lot

things that flappers

or teenaged swans

were not so much known for

at least up to that point

   but from that day forward

as the story goes

(because it does)

if our ears were to catch wind

of a coo or two

or if

anywhere

within

the horizons we with sight behold

catch but a glimpse

either of us

even if in the faintest peripheries

of anyone or anything

awkwardly or with even a stictch of clumsiness

diving

   falling

      swooping downward

perhaps having just been sprung from a springboard

well

we’d immediately think of

swans

we also think of

our very own tenaciously deviant cygnet

who is now

in our beloved flock

the eldest swan

mmmmcmxcv

i feel a bit

cross
-eyed
this afternoon

then i think
what?
i never do this of an
afternoon

which is a
flat-out
lie

but only because
this afternoon
i am
(as i sometimes
if not often do)

attempting
to embody
someone
not myself

this makes sense

after all
i have two degrees 

in the dramatic arts

have had a lot of fun
pretending to be
people i am not

and
(probably less so)
practicing the art of
empathy

not that i was
or am
that spectacular
at either

but it could easily
and truly be said of me
(as it could of anyone else, i suppose)
that i am a

liar

mmmmcmxciv

talk to me

i could call mom

that seems too direct, too intimate and a

wee bit too plainspoken, doesn’t it?

(an easy thing too remember ought to be that

if and when you find that there’s a lull in the conversation

simply

toss a random question; always

be prepared—utilize those

three years spent in the boy scouts—keep a list of

ten or so pre-drafted in your wallet so that you

have them with you at all times) (an idea that is

not necessary when conversations never manage to transpire in your

presence)

mmmmcmxciii

with apologies

or feeling i must

when things get this opaque

question mark /

you question mark /

i already did /

do you detect a pattern?

anyway, it’s just a way to make the possibilities endless

you know

when you need endless possibilities

no regrets