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Post by charliegee on Sept 9, 2012 20:42:48 GMT -5
stickball game
so I go back to the old neighborhood
for the twenty-somethingest annual
stickball game and there are old faces
some that I recognize, some that recognize me
some play, some watch, all seem to be
in one way or another catching up on old times
did you see? is he still alive? how is?
no, I didn't know that... remember when...
the sights were the same
well, some of them anyway
on the back of the tee-shirts are
the names of those that have died
during the previous year
suppose all our names will be there
if the tradition is kept up
but something is different
something has changed
at one point I walked down to the park
on 119th street, the park that's no longer there
in March of 1960, I kissed my girl there
first kiss, took me six months to get up the nerve
and before I got to the spot of that sacred memory
(that girl became my wife)
before I got to the spot, I stopped and turned around
because something was different
something had changed
and I do believe that something was me
charlie giardino 9/9/12
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Post by charliegee on Sept 11, 2012 10:04:19 GMT -5
walking sad
I sense you in the shadows
under the shroud of loneliness
beneath the veil of tears
I feel your presence
how you bring sorrow to joy
sadness to beauty
at my wit's end, you found me
lost and alone, walking sad
hiding from the light
cowering from grace
laboring under wrong impressions
thinking perfection could be mine
now, realizing what I am
a grateful sinner returning
you, open armed, receive me
not a word of censure
just a heart full of love
just a heart full of love
charlie giardino 9/11/12
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Post by charliegee on Sept 11, 2012 10:38:23 GMT -5
that day
the day was beautiful
as I remember it
cloudless, quiet
there was a stillness about it
even before the planes hit
I remember saying to myself
'this is a day to remember'
and it turned out to be just that
and the silence returned
after we witnessed
the towers falling
a stunned silence
echoed through the streets
each person walking around
in a cloud of horrified silence
here we are twelve years later
and the silence comes round again
as we honor those who fell
and we cannot help but ask
when will it ever end?
charlie gee 9/11/12
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Post by laughter on Sept 13, 2012 5:47:47 GMT -5
Of a Milk Jug in a Painting I want to say please don't place the milk jug so precariously upon that cloth! Such a play upon a situation, it may fall in it's natural course, and then of course, is a broken situation only, we never get there, for art can capture the precipice upon where precarious holds steady into our perceptions. nice glimmer ... really nice ... |
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Post by charliegee on Sept 13, 2012 10:22:14 GMT -5
rain
rain your love upon me
I'm yearning to get wet
this heart that mourns your passing
this heart that can't forget
there is a dark descending
that swallows whole the light
that turns the day to sadness
that brings too soon the night
and though this sorrow holds me
I'll break the heavy chains
I'll smile again in earnest
if you send the soothing rains
your love is all I'm after
your love is all I knew
your love is still within me
and all I know to do
is to live this life I'm given
finding grace at every turn
so rain your love upon me
there are things I need to learn
charlie giardino 9/13/12
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Post by charliegee on Sept 14, 2012 12:25:46 GMT -5
brown-eyed girl
I saw you
you were beautiful
what was I supposed to do
with that loveliness?
I was astounded, confounded
lost in your vision
brown hair, long bangs
almost covering your eyes
one look and I was gone
never before and never since
was I affected to that degree
a twelve-year girl
just upped and stole my heart
I knew I had to have you
didn't know how to go about it
but some things you just know
some things are evident
some things just won't let go
and we dated for seven years
stood married for forty-two
and forged ourselves a life
children, a house full of love
Charlie and Maryann forever
just like we drew in a heart
on the wall with chalk
all those years ago
but forever is a word
and not an actuality
time, it intervened
sickness, it took hold
and you were taken from me
I wished for you to go
for all the suffering you endured
the inevitable happened as expected
still, I wasn't ready for it
still, I collapsed in grief
forever is a word
that resides in a heart
it can't be erased by the rain
and time can't touch it
I thank god for you
for all you are, all we shared
I am full of gratitude
for my little brown-eyed girl
who stole my heart, owns it still
and has blessed me so greatly with her love
charlie gee 9/14/12
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Post by laughter on Sept 14, 2012 17:06:03 GMT -5
wow Charlie ... those last two ... I mean really ... wow
-----
The depth of the pool was frightening
The surface was smooth, calm cool
Slight ripples from a passing mote delivered by the breeze
But beyond that
Just stillness
The water didn't just look cool, it was as cool as it was blue
Diving in ... the *thunk* ... the embrace, the sensation on the skin
It was then, when I opened my eyes
They saw nothing but the water
Down into the depths
The serene surface then struck me as a deception
Just a facade
This depth .... what it held ... how far it went
Who could fathom?
Who could know?
The depths call out with a song
With a verse
They try to pour back the rain into the sky ...
But the sky takes it's due slowly
In it's own time
With the breath of a thousand breezes
Lifting the depths back to the source of the rain
Slowly but surely
Reuniting the melancholy with the sublime
The fulfillment of a whispered promise
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Post by charliegee on Sept 14, 2012 21:52:51 GMT -5
excellent laughter...
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Post by charliegee on Sept 14, 2012 21:53:26 GMT -5
walking out
I used to pray for deliverance
to be anywhere else
anybody else but me
could not accept my life
and never knew why
turmoil followed me
swallowed me up
didn't see, couldn't see
that I was my own jailer
didn't know I had the key
that I made the cell
I felt trapped inside
and walking out
would be as easy
as simply walking out
you don't know you know
until you know you know
know what I mean?...
charlie giardino 9/14/12
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Post by laughter on Sept 15, 2012 5:44:33 GMT -5
walking out I used to pray for deliverance to be anywhere else anybody else but me could not accept my life and never knew why turmoil followed me swallowed me up didn't see, couldn't see that I was my own jailer didn't know I had the key that I made the cell I felt trapped inside and walking out would be as easy as simply walking out you don't know you know until you know you know know what I mean?... charlie giardino 9/14/12 That one got me a good laugh Charlie ... you know, one of those ones that has a gruff "... yeeaaahh!!..." underneath it? I really heard the Bronx in that one man ... my answer .... a completely unequivocal... "yes and no" ... ;D ;D |
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Post by charliegee on Sept 15, 2012 14:37:08 GMT -5
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Post by charliegee on Sept 15, 2012 14:37:36 GMT -5
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Post by charliegee on Sept 15, 2012 15:21:37 GMT -5
flowers
my heart is open
it bleeds
broken, shattered
it breeds
each jagged edge
just seeds
that blossom
into love
pollinating
fertilizing
inseminating
flowering
just in time
for the harvest
charlie giardino 9/15/12
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Post by charliegee on Sept 17, 2012 16:06:55 GMT -5
9 /17/1959
I haven't been writing much lately
been posting older stuff
sometimes edited, sometimes not
don't know what it is
but nothing is coming to me
but today on my way out of the house
I noticed today's date on the newspaper
and it stopped me cold...
September seventeenth back in '59
was the day I asked Maryann out
well, not me, but a friend
who did me the favor
I was thirteen, she was twelve
and it changed my life
turned it upside down
in the best possible way
I write so often about how her death
impacted me so now it's time
to talk of beginnings
I've said it before and will say it again
man, she was lovely
and I was smitten with her beauty
didn't know nothing about girls
but I knew I had to have her
that she said yes
is the major blessing of my life
so no matter how much I cry
no matter how much I miss her
the miracle is that I had her
that she loved me too
can't say I was the best thing for her
because of my many failings
but that doesn't alter the fact
that she was the best thing for me
my angel, my girl, my love
don't know that I'll ever get over her
how do you get over the best thing
that ever happened to you?
all I know is my love is stronger now
even though she is gone
she populates my days
and inhabits my dreams
and I'm a most fortunate man
that fifty-three years ago today
as I waited on the corner holding my breath
my friend walked out of the projects to me
on the corner of Pleasant Avenue
to tell me she said yes
yes...
charlie giardino 9/17/12
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Post by silver on Sept 17, 2012 16:24:14 GMT -5
That was wonderful, charlie.
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