Joe Quinton:

5 Poems

… most losses add something   Ryan

     I stood, then fell, fainted

           people standing near me

volunteered help,

it was a doctor’s office.

Ambulance had no springs

   it did supply oxygen

   maybe not needed

   but it is procedure.

The emergency room

   quick tests then

   long periods of waiting

   wondering.

To be nonchalant after

   an incident like this

   is either to be foolhardy

   or to accept mortality.

....................

you leave

but still are there

what mystery is this

apart attached

a bond not dissolved

emotions

   not memory

   dying

     you do not leave

as distance increases

some magnet holds

....................

it is the solstice
now the sun pauses
stops, turns, strengthens
is measured
for a return trip

we are not suns
but comets
appearing
veering out in
a straight line
then exploding

GEOMETRY

Straight is not our path
We are all non-euclideans
Random walkers
Thinking we know the way
But describing circles with our lives

What map can show
These wanderings
The image of our travels
Is never where we have been.

RETURN

visits carry the burden of memory
the flower crushed does not revive
no medicine heals that cruelty

returning only hurts, retracing is not real
complete forgetting cannot be done

we stand in places once ours
wonder why there is no applause

Biographical Note: Joe Quinton settled in Chester County after various stops around the United States. He began writing poetry from a desire to make sense of the varied lives he has led in his eight decades. His poetry is both autobiographical and forward looking. Joe is a regular contributor to Creek Road Gang. See also the Author Index for Poetry and Author Index for Prose L-Z to find more of his work.