Poetry has become an important

Part of my life.

It has kept me connected 

To the world;

To friends old and new,

To the past and future.

James Baldwin, of course,

Said it best:

“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.”

These are things we can work for.

These are things we can give.

Talent?

Who knows if you have it?

Who knows where it leads?

Best not to worry about it.

You write what you can;

You say what you have to say;

You follow Baldwin and others

In our effort to connect,

to be together in the world.

February 26, 2023

Have we turned a corner?

Are we on new terrain?

Not that the old issues

Are gone.

War still rages in Ukraine;

Biden continues to threaten and escalate;

China is under pressure to engage.

Where does it end,

What can we do?

Are we looking for solutions

Or just a way to live and love?

February 25, 2023

I feel like shit.

Yet friends who visit 

Say I look great

What are they seeing?

What am I feeling?

An opening to connect

If we let it.

To deepen our love for each other.

For our lives together.

February 21, 2023

It’s Valentine’s day.

What to make of that?

Not just cards and trinkets.

We need a celebration

that lets in the

pain and suffering

from California to Turkey to Ukraine.

Can we infuse

the world with love

And optimism?

Can we avoid the

trite and sentimental

that breeds cynicism and stasis?

Can we spark a movement

around the world

that points to the

light at the end of the tunnel?

February 14, 2023

We were as different as

people could be.

Arthur was early American stock;

Settled on MA-NH border

before the American Revolution.

I am from a

Family of Jewish immigrants;

Landed on Ellis Island,

settled in Brooklyn and lower east side

early in the 20th century.

Both of my grandfathers

won scholarships to medical school

and built successful practices in Brooklyn.

My mother’s father became quite wealthy 

investing in real estate.

Arthur and I 

Bonded as in laws

And,

More important,

As friends.

We spent hours talking about 

politics, sports, family,

books.

I remember us watching Robert DeNiro

And Ben Stiller in Little Fockers.

We were at and in the movie.

It was ordinary, loving

Caring and sweet.

Just like you, Arthur.

February 12, 2023

visit my blog at poemsforfriends.blog

4 pm on a winter afternoon.

Grey and white.

Snow fields 

stretch for miles.

There is much in our world

that cries pain and pessimism.

And our lives go on.

Not with gritted teeth

but with a matter of factness

that assures us

Spring will come

The sun will shine

And we humans will greet

The rising sun with love and caring.

February 10, 2023

Another night;

Another morning.

Sleep is fitful.

Can’t quite get comfortable.

So I’m up at

3 am.

Doing what I can

to remember that

I still have agency

To reach out and engage.

Can’t get there in person.

Zoom will have to do

And it will.

February 9, 2023

(A poem by my friend Nancy Kraus)

Time waits

for our next move

In between tasks undone

and mail unopened.

A place for the misplaced

A state of inertia

Inactivity.

That place without purpose

Where I am stuck in my own way

Waiting for something to happen

Or for myself

to make it be.

Time out

Let yourself alone

It will come

I’ve rested enough

Write a poem now

Then cut your hair

February 8, 2023

Here’s a poem by my old friend Leta Davis.

I’m not the poet

But I know how I feel

I know how I felt when he saved me

And those times…they were many

I know how my friends felt when he saved them

I know how we felt

Safe

Safe in our homes

Safe in our lives

Respected

Cared for

Loved

I know how I felt

Knowing

Knowing that my calls would be returned

No matter where I was in the world

And those places…they were many

He would take care of it

Later we would laugh about it

I know how I feel

Honored

Honored to know him

Honored to be represented by him

He has cancer

What?

I’m not the poet

I speak for the class

And our numbers…they are many

Together we stand

All hearts by his side

We know how we feel

February 8, 2023

Another night

Another morning.

Sleeping is fitful.

Can’t quite get comfortable.

So I’m up at

3 am;

Doing what I can

to remember that

I still have agency

To reach out and engage.

Can’t get there in person.

Zoom will have to do

And it will.

February 7, 2023