August 5, 2020
Thought for Today
“Poetry is the impish attempt to paint the color of the wind.”
Maxwell Bodenheim, poet,
quoted in Ben Hecht’s play,
Winkelberg, produced in
New York, January 1958
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
August 4, 2020
SWISS CHEESE
One chair backwards,
one hat backwards,
three people talking
at a kitchen table, late
at night, swiss cheese,
rye bread, some thin,
really thin, sliced ham,
pickles, 13 grapes, I
counted them, the right food,
counted them, the right food,
the right time, the right
three people, good cold
beer, a conversation
that changed everything –
finally. It was
about time.
It was about longtime friends.
It was about longtime friends.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020
August 3, 2020
FETCH
He expected his wife
to be an airlines attendant.
It was as simple as that,
but it took her a while
to figure that out – maybe
because that’s what she
wanted to be as a young girl.
Getting him this
and getting him that:
a pillow, a magazine, a snack.
He: never to give,
always sitting there
ready to receive.
She: never to sit,
always ready to serve.
He: watching her walk
down the aisle.
She: smiling, the last one
to fasten her seat belt
in any turbulence
in the space of their life.
That is till one day she said
to herself, “It’s
time for me to
quit my job and take another flight.”
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020
Monday, August 3, 2020
Sunday, August 2, 2020
CERTAIN CHAIRS
Sometimes certain chairs end up
as sacred chairs – a chair that
everyone wants when mom or dad
dies or has to move to a smaller place.
We have ours. It’s wooden. It’s red.
It’s old. It would
be passed by if left
at the curb when people are getting
rid of stuff – but this one has stories.
My father sat in this chair, In fact he
made this chair in the 1940’s from wood
he picked up on the beach
at the Narrows –
the water
leading into the New York Harbor.
It was down our basement in Brooklyn
for years My
mother sat in this chair.
My brother sat in this chair.
My brother sat in this chair.
My 2 sisters sat in this chair.
My nephew Michael sat in this chair
playing the role of King of the World
in games with kids – that is, till he died
suddenly at the age of 15 of cancer.
It’s now outside – on my sister’s porch
in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Not too
many chairs last this long – but I hope and
pray there is fight to see who gets it next.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2020
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