Therapy sessions
and life lessons
meeting relatives and friends
at dinners and cocktail parties
looking, hoping
to clear up
awkward
adolescent loose ends
in five hours
rites of passage
provide emotional bookends
making a new impression
and then abruptly leaving again
One lazy Summer afternoon
finding a letter in a box
up in the attic
that was
never sent to a
once upon a time girlfriend
explaining my
twenty something
temperament
not so well
And one received that
was saved as a testament
to love and belonging
reading it and
regretting the quarrel
in our last interaction
that was never meant
but remains as a sore
on my soul
a tearful lament
Leafing through books
and photographs
searching for clues to
my parents' behaviour
information about their youth
before they met
before my DNA was set
Wanting to believe
that in this life
there will be a Saviour
Chess pieces are knocked over
and our cards
are finally displayed
What do I need
to have a winning hand?
Maybe
a wife who is a lover,
a full house
with smiles and laughter,
depth of feeling
and more
Honey and pancakes
and my own
folk rock band
getting a raucous
call for an
encore
amidst the clapping of hands
and then the rain came

the apache kid