SPRING WOULD BE GOOD

for JMG

I would like to stop coughing now
and for Spring to arrive. Spring
would be good. A cough free Spring.
Imagine never coughing. Never
blowing a dandelion clock clean
or never going to the beach.

I think it will rain some more
then it might snow. Then hail.
This is Spring coming on like a roll
of thunder. The sand raked with waves.
All that winter is in your West
and you are waking up like a Limpet.

IT'S THE WONDERFUL LIFE

for JB

They were throwing snow off the rooftops all down Chippinghouse Road
when you turned the corner in you faux cat fur hat and muff, the one with the ears
stitched into the left hand side, and you were walking with a sunflower umbrella
held high and just a little bit behind your head so that your face caught the flakes
and it made it shine. It was 36 hours until Christmas and here came all the ghosts at once,
stepping along the pavement in foxtrots and quicksteps. Angels were singing
all of my dreams from the chimney stacks and attic windows. Every door on the street stood open 
and people stood in the doorways singing Hosannahs at your coming. At your every step
down the ice polished pavement, I noticed your faux camel skin boots as the streetlights
bent in and formed a halo around us. A crescendo of tin thumped with sticks by children
rolled down the road and one by next but one the houses exploded. Tinsel lit the air.