sighs register wonder

measures ebbing love

tap, tap, tapping rain drowns

a bright haze, determines rhythm

warns of thunder in a misty shift

 philosophy is the love of

but not of love lost:

smart is the choice contentment 

marry a man of… Read full post »

GOING BUT NOT LEAVING 

From home, you can count the stars

You have taken no time for this

The moon will have a phase and

it may attract you to its fullness

now that you bought a ticket to travel,

but not to take leave, for you will serve… Read full post »

4 O’clock black, baby

I’ve been walking four hours

in discount stores trying

to forget you,

so when an old lady snarled

at meafter she ran into me,  

I wantedto scrape out her eyes

but I couldn’t'cause her face was

road mapped with wrinkles… Read full post »

Fried Green Tomatoes

2 or 3 tomatoes will feed 2 or 3 people

1/2 c. flour mixed with salt & pepper

3/4 c.  cornmeal with 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 or 2 eggs beaten in a dipping bowl

Wash and dry the tomatoes. Combine cornmeal and flour and mix well.

Dip a… Read full post »

Chapter One: Grandfather

                         Back in Spindale, North Carolina in the Western region of farms and tiny towns, my grandfather raised hell.  But when I met him, al/… Read full post »

Would you like to Live to be 100?Age has its reward—maturity.           

     Willard Scott on the TODAY show dances a verbal jig through Smucker’s segment on the birthdays of centenarians. These seemingly lucky s… Read full post »

Never underestimate  the flavor satisfaction of a Simple Tomato Sandwich.

The art of it is as follows:

2 slices of soft white bread (toasted makes it very different and worth trying)

a large beefsteak tomato washed and dried

Hellman's mayo

Black pepper and kosher salt (the grinder versions are g… Read full post »

These are the front yard days

when morning meets children

yawning into toast and cereal--

dreamy with shaping wishes

just in case yes fills the afternoon:

barefoot in sprinklers around flowers

reflective cheer in an audit of sunlight

Perfection  is the sun at noon

fully dr… Read full post »

     Grandma was feather-quiet and completely mild. Grandpa moved her from Spindale, North Carolina, to O'Donnell Heights to a nuetral southeatern suburb of Baltimore City sometime in 1950. She was the master-comforter who coddled all of us in that government subsidized row house,… Read full post »

To a Clotheshorse

Did you love Mr. Roger's tenners?

pretend he's granpa in cozy sweaters?

enter black tattoo profane? neon tie-dye stain?

Perhaps you want a piercing pain,

while I prefer the thrills of sheen

in a closet full of Halloween

Impolitic rebels wear seal or mink

but I adore… Read full post »

Frederick Pittman Evans, what a name. He was all the name implies. A yound man during the depression, he ran moonshine, ran a still and out foxed the Feds by jumping six foot fences.  He fed a lot of families in Keysville, Virginia with his illegal money and his joy of… Read full post »