Long Story Short
Some resolutions rise
like fireworks…showy,
bright, dissipating.
bright, dissipating.
What of the resolve
to be precisely here–
New Year’s Eve on a
terrace overlooking
the Pacific, my father’s clasp
around my shoulders,
his quiet ardor apparent
as an undertow? This Mississippi
man whose fluent Spanish has
a southern twang, who began
in a shotgun house and found
Panama a homeland. I see his
naps, ask for tales of escapades:
to be precisely here–
New Year’s Eve on a
terrace overlooking
the Pacific, my father’s clasp
around my shoulders,
his quiet ardor apparent
as an undertow? This Mississippi
man whose fluent Spanish has
a southern twang, who began
in a shotgun house and found
Panama a homeland. I see his
naps, ask for tales of escapades:
Bolivia, Venezuela, Singapore,
a diverted landing in Tashkent
to live in an airport for three days.
a diverted landing in Tashkent
to live in an airport for three days.
He’s 112 pounds, as if accumulation
of risk has cut to the firebrand marrow.
of risk has cut to the firebrand marrow.
Shuffling in flip-flops, with
his sagas fastened to his frame.
~ LCMH
