CREEK ROAD GANG
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Joe Quinton: 4 Poems
copyright 2009
TOGETHER
I know why I am with her now
The all embracing love
The shared warmth of her body,
The sharpness rejoicing in words
The food lovingly prepared,
But this is the experience of twenty years.
How it happened.
She approached me
Seeking a small favor.
That was easy but then -
There was something about her.
She was like nothing from before.
I wanted more of her
So casting off all entanglements.
I started something new.
The mystery has no answer.
Her presence is enough.
HEXAGRAM 16 HARMONY
We had been together a while.
I said “we should get married.”
We could not choose a date,
so we threw the I Ching,
decided - February 20 1988.
Easiest to have the ceremony at home
a store cake – sandwiches -- bubbly,
a few friends and family.
The minister a retired Unitarian,
with a black suit and tie.
Later looking at the pictures
the bride was the star, shining
as if the greatest prize were hers.
Wrong -- it was mine.
After the ceremony
I was visiting
with my family.
Let’s go, she said,
it’s our honeymoon.
We were married.
TIME
Life and pleasures slow
The body stops forgiving
Not surprises
But awakenings occur
There are failures
Eyes - teeth - bones
The physician's potion
Cannot heal.
I am not young
No doctor cures
That inevitable disease.
NIGHT
My sleep is interrupted
By the inconveniences of age.
Night is there another world.
Light from somewhere illumines
Luminosity on walls, corners, edges
Rays from an intrusive moon.
A bare visibility
What is it that allows us
To see through the dark?
In day my sight hindered
At night I can see
Is there more truth at night
I know why I am with her now
The all embracing love
The shared warmth of her body,
The sharpness rejoicing in words
The food lovingly prepared,
But this is the experience of twenty years.
How it happened.
She approached me
Seeking a small favor.
That was easy but then -
There was something about her.
She was like nothing from before.
I wanted more of her
So casting off all entanglements.
I started something new.
The mystery has no answer.
Her presence is enough.
HEXAGRAM 16 HARMONY
We had been together a while.
I said “we should get married.”
We could not choose a date,
so we threw the I Ching,
decided - February 20 1988.
Easiest to have the ceremony at home
a store cake – sandwiches -- bubbly,
a few friends and family.
The minister a retired Unitarian,
with a black suit and tie.
Later looking at the pictures
the bride was the star, shining
as if the greatest prize were hers.
Wrong -- it was mine.
After the ceremony
I was visiting
with my family.
Let’s go, she said,
it’s our honeymoon.
We were married.
TIME
Life and pleasures slow
The body stops forgiving
Not surprises
But awakenings occur
There are failures
Eyes - teeth - bones
The physician's potion
Cannot heal.
I am not young
No doctor cures
That inevitable disease.
NIGHT
My sleep is interrupted
By the inconveniences of age.
Night is there another world.
Light from somewhere illumines
Luminosity on walls, corners, edges
Rays from an intrusive moon.
A bare visibility
What is it that allows us
To see through the dark?
In day my sight hindered
At night I can see
Is there more truth at night
Biographical Note: Joe Quinton is a recent resident of Chester County, Pennsylvania after lives spent in Providence, Boston, West Palm Beach and Kingsville, Texas. He came to poetry after retiring and seeking some form of expression. He finds it serves as a journal of life today and a memento of what was once. Both themes appear and reappear in his poetry. Joe's poetry has also appeared in our September and October issues.
