Poems
by John Grey
A Night Watching Nature Programs
Round eyes,
small pert nose,
fluttery brown fur,
gentle demeanor,
prim gait,
the antelope
is a play
for our sympathy.
Prowling,
stalking,
fierce gaze,
salivating incisors,
rippling
muscled chest,
the lioness
is a play
for our awe.
Once in a
lifetime deal,
prices slashed
on all vehicles,
all must go
to make way
for new inventory
and then theres
the advertisers.
Those Door-To-Door People
Who remembers the Fuller Brush girl?
Or the Avon Lady?
And what about the vacuum cleaner salesman
or the kid selling magazine subscriptions
to pay for his college education?
Salesman still come door to door
but not with perfumes in a suitcase.
Instead, its Jehovah Witnesses
trying to sell me God.
And politicians, of course.
And God knows, they're for sale.
Those were the days.
The world of commerce
put on its best walking shoes
and did the neighborhoods.
Now it's just religion and politics
that bother.
And when they come calling,
I pretend Im not home.
Now if they only preached
that old Fuller Brush religion.
Or they ran on a platform
of Avon, Hoover and Life.
The Couple Measure Success Page One
My life begins with a couple
driving through a new estate,
going from house to house,
admiring the two-car garages, neat lawns,
in-ground pools out back,
the golf course in the distance,
the rippled sheen of a lake
within walking distance of all.
Of course, they cant afford what they see.
So my life starts out with disappointment.
And maybe something like,
This isnt what we bargained for.
And yet, this impoverished couple
tell themselves, All is not lost,
maybe the kid will grow up
to be a doctor or lawyer
and will shower us with all
the treasures, the pleasures, we never had.
So my life steadies itself
through a series of apartments,
hand-me down cribs,
occasional Chinese takeout meals,
cheap vacations by the shore.
And even a home, nothing fancy,
but that new estate is old by this,
in reality and in wishful thoughts.
At some point, the couple must realize that
this boy theyve nurtured,
put their faith in, is smart enough
but not engaged in their dreams.
He doesnt take the cats temperature.
He scribbles on paper instead.
And the couple move in circles
where children go to medical school
or study the law or, at least,
put their mechanic skills to good use
and open their own garage.
These kids dont stick their head in a book
unless it ends in dollar signs.
And wild Basil is not a flower to them
but just some crazy guy they work with.
The Couple Measure Success Page Two
The couple drift steadily enough
into middle age,
then grow gray in hair and body and outlook.
My life is determinedly mine by this.
Im married with a place of my own,
a job that pays
and a vocation that doesnt.
They do go on the long trip
that theyve always dreamed of
but, halfway through,
the tug of home is too great,
and they head back
to where their roots are waiting.
The couples lives fade eventually.
while mines still in progress.
At their late date, theyve finally
accepted the fact that my life
is the one they want for me.
Not the life of mine they want for themselves.
But, at the end, thats a start.
The Truth Please
I gave up on ambiguity.
I wanted black or white,
yes or no.
Instead she handed out maybes
like Reeses Pieces on Halloween.
I needed some time with clarity.
A day, an hour even,
when I knew where people
were coming from.
But she wouldnt give me a minute.
Not even a moment.
I longed for words
and facial expressions
to align,
for actions to coincide with promises
but her uncertainty
joined hands with vagueness,
threw in some doubt,
and then topped it off with,
So?
Had I known where I stood
I wouldnt have been standing there.
A Healthy Lie
He told the doctor he had quit cigarettes
for good this time,
even though he had puffed on one
that very morning.
He wanted to be superior in the
physician's eyes.
And he could do it with an untruth,
without having to change anything.
Beautiful!
Gravity is overrated.
Other pulls are greater.
To be seen to be making improvements
puts magnetism in the shade.
He doesn't want to die
but he doesn't want to give up pleasure either.
If the doc keys into his laptop,
"gave up smoking"
then it has to be partly true at least.
It has to help.
And then there's the story he tells his wife.
It grabs him by the tongue.
points him in the direction of.
"He says I'm as healthy as a guy
half my age."
Then he goes out back for another cancer stick.
His next appointment isn't for six months.
A lot can be said to happen in that time.
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