Once In The Suntan Of My Youth — a poem

Once in the suntan of my youth,

back when I wore my hair short

and my zest for adventure long,

I posed atop Grouse Mountain

with a girl I’d known one minute.

I think her name was Suzie.

She was really nice.

(And probably still is.)

When I’m famous she’ll come to one of my concerts

and slip a gilded notecard to a burly bodyguard,

thus reuniting us forever! (Yes — Bruno, Jaques &

Miguel will know to be ever on the look-out for her.)

In the notecard will be her 1986 photo

of us smiling there above Vancouver,

hers a slightly different pose of course,

maybe with me tipping up my wineskin,

both of us doing high can-can leg flings,

or me hoisting her with ease, like this…

But back to our future reunion!

After back-stage introductions,

we’ll all go out to dinner, where

I’ll be sure to have lots of pictures

taken for a follow-up post for you!

Yay!!!  I can’t wait!!!!! Can you??

The above scintillating poem is my offering this week for dVerse Poets Open Link Night.

Get your poem-link up Tuesdays at 3:00 EST, and witness the magic take flight.

With love from Jannie.

xoxooxxoxoxoxo

One Day We Will Say — a poem

One day we will say

“When you were ten

Walter sketched you.”

Or maybe not.

Who knows

what we will

remember

to say or not

as the years

have ripened

like melons

on a vine

before us.

(Wait, do melons grow on vines?)

🙂

One thing I DO know….

Today I say “Kelly, you are awesome!!”

And “I love you!!!!!”

Will you read this one day, and remember that portrait sitting?

___________________________________________

Part TWO (Written before part ONE…)

Ten minutes after I met Walter

we were sitting outside my house

in a car he was looking at buying.

When I told him I wrote songs,

he said in his fine German accent

“I wrote a song once!

A lullaby for my baby!!”

And proceeded to sing it

there in that ’01 Honda Civic,

me in the passenger seat.

And it was sweet.

Now that baby of his is 13

and his babier baby is 10 —  Kelly’s age.

Walter is 85!!!!!!!!

His wife is about my age — 47.

He sketched that portrait of Kelly last week.

__________________________________________

PART THREE… (Back To “The Now”)

Walter bought a car. (Finally.)

After driving 6 we had for sale.

So, this is all quite awesome.

And I took this photo of Kelly yesterday.

Over and out!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

P.S. My darling car business husband whom Kelly gets her gorgeous profile from, made that fireplace mantel and such.

He added that whole room onto our house with this own hands!!!

Yep — construction pix one day! ( I promise!!)

xoxoxoxoxo

P.P.S.

Walter Meyer is AWESOME!!

He’s a Nazi Germany survivor who stowed away on a ship to South America when he was 17.

I’ve been in his house and bowed in wonder at his gorgeous colorful paintings.

(This poem post is for Open Link night at dVerse Poetry Pub.)

I Picture You Painting

I picture you painting

in new colors now

your brush hesitating

on blues and browns.
________________

I picture you drawing

your family closer

like a shawl for warmth

when the fire gets low.
_________________

I picture you always

with your smile

outstretched like

a lily at Easter, like

a bird in happy flight.

I wrote that in an email to Kim the other day.

Kim, better known in the blogging world as “Talon,” has been my faithful buddy since my very first weeks of this blog, over 3 years ago now.

She is truly a lily that cheers, and a sweet bird flitting about our hearts.

One of the very best people I know.

Kim’s mom recently died unexpectedly, and my thoughts are with her. I can’t imagine how she feels.

I miss her beautiful poetry / photography posts and uplifting comments.

Hopefully one day her heart will feel up to blogging again.

With love to Kim, now and always.

— Jannie

xoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxxoxoxo

Credits for the 3 paintings… Bottom, Middle, Top

They Wanted To Be Poets

They wanted to be poets

munching words in libraries

and raspberries in Spain.

They wanted their images

to scamper in the fountains

of Italy and in the forests

of Nova Scotia and Maine.

They wanted to write poems

young girls would read beside

oceans, lakes, rivers, streams,

and

coffee cups as the first snow

of the season was whitening

the brownish grey that spring

would charm the tulips from.

They wanted to write epic

adventures with titles like

“Hey, Who Took My Socks,”

“An Introduction To Pruning Cats,” and

“Does This Haiku Make My Butt Look Big?”

They wanted to be poets, all.

And are, with every breath of every

day that has dawned since love first

scattered their names on the wind.

So there ya go — a poem inspired partly by two books on my music stand.

Words are fun, eh!?!

The other pic is from about a month ago of those two cats I love, felines who need no pruning at all. I call that shot “Get Them Hungry Enough” … because it was the FIRST time KitKat ever willingly let Mieshka get within 20 feet of him!

He continues to warm to her, tho, which is a delight to my heart. I knew he would!  (Eventually.) 🙂

[He had been the only reigning cat here for 4 years, we got him when he was 6 weeks old.]

YOU are a delight to my heart too, dear Blogging Friend. Take care!

xoxooxxoxooxox

The Rooster In My Coffee

A rooster floats on my coffee

then morphs into hair like Joni’s

in her painting from long ago.

The rooster reappears wearing

a wedding dress and one Roman

sandal with a dangling strap.

The rooster is not chicken.

He leaps from my mug to the

kitchen table and dances.

I’ve not seen pirouettes and

rond de jambes that fine since

the winter Ballerina Jane and I

gambled in a Russian bakery

by night and ached in tall towers

of boredom and bones by day.

Rooster likes my Highland fling.

Is impressed I suffer only three

nicks during my sword dance.

We cavort around the house

until he darts out the back door,

over the cat, under the fence,

and back to the magical mist

he danced from. Gone forever

but always with me in spirit,

especially on mornings like this

when distant lattes crow and

the trees are all playing guitars.

Have a happpy day.

And [edit] wow, I made it to #10 on Mr. Linky this week!!  🙂  🙂

Does dVerse Poetry ROCK, or what??!

xoxo

FYI… those are the front and back covers of Joni’s first record, her own art.