-- THE SET UP — Last week I had "roll" when I meant "role." A post or two ago it was "rain" when I meant "reign" or was it "rein?" And then there are the misplaced apostrophes and hyphens. Thank Heavens that on my W&O list of 2000 good souls there are 2000 marvelous proof readers, quick to e-mail suggestions and keep me from making a total dunce out of myself. Thank you all for that! I am now in the process of proofing my forth coming book "WORDS & ONE-LINERS - Take 2" My neighbor and dear friend embree (she doesn't capitalize the "e") sits beside me while I read the book aloud to catch lost words chortling at the horrendous way I spell.
-----In colleges I am often asked why I don't use much punctuation. My answer is, "I don't know how. I have always written for a listener not a reader. If it really troubles you, get a pen or pencil and you do it yourself" And so, to further cover my nudity with fluttering hands I post the following
in a candid moment mother once said
"Show me a man
who thinks he's in control
and I'll show you a clever woman."
and certainly
she was the sovereign head
of the kingdom I came from
I didn't go to college.... I was sent!
off to study optometry
groomed
to step into my step father’s shoes
another "sight for sore eyes" she'd joke
another professional man
she assumed
thank god
I was learning disabled!
I may have jumped
whenever her majesty spoke
but I couldn't spell my own name
let alone "ophthalmology"
a fatal flaw
even mother couldn't remedy
each spring the educational system
cleanses itself of dummies like me
in those days a dyslexic
was labeled "slow"
"A nice guy but a brick shy you know."
no one to be grinding your lenses
five times Ma tried to slam dunk me
five times academia had to flunk me
and so
much to mother's dismay and despair
her failed optician wound up
in rock & roll - song selling
going on from there
to a unique and rewarding career
speaking poems - story telling
learning disabled?
hell, I was learning advantaged
they say
"It's all in the timing." and I agree
because if the PC with "spell check"
had existed
back when my mother held sway
I’d be trapped in the life
of an optometrist today
I did, however
wind up making a spectacle
of myself
+++
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROSTATE CANCER, 2005
----THE SET UP — The setting was the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. And as an actor in this cast of characters I played my part as best I could. This is not meant to be poetry but rather a poetic summery of two days a week ago.
in Baltimore International
I wait to fly home to my wife
having just spent what arguably
has been the two best days of my life
dubbed the “Poet Laureate of Prostate Cancer”
I’m probably the only poet ever invited
to address a medical convention
but for me advanced PC is the subject
that gets all the ink these days
this is not to say
I didn’t have hidden agenda — I did
in due time I will need a master navigator
to guide me through the treacherous waters
that lie up ahead
not an easy task as the panel of speakers
were the best of the best
but to be totally honest
the technical talk sailed over my head
but preparing and reading nautical charts
is what the navigator is paid to do
so it wasn’t so much what they said
rather the manner in which they said it
all were informed and knowledgeable
but one had a quiet thoughtful style
a sweet gentle smile — someone who
was in the same boat as the rest of us
finding him was like coming home
but this
was only icing on the cake
what made the last two days arguably
the best two days of my life
was putting faces on the friends
encountered in cyber space
that mystical place where care and concern
is not determined by age, gender, race,
physical appearance, financial situation
or geographical location — souls
whose mind and spirit I’ve embraced
suddenly appearing in person
Abe, from South Africa
Rose, charming and helpful
Judy, who waltzed a turn or two with me
Saint Howard, Marty, Al and Ray
they all came by in a never ending parade
and new friends were made
a weeping woman from India
whose husband was newly diagnosed
I held her hand thinking of my wife
“I know, I know, I understand.”
a feisty old duck from South Carolina
a gay coming out to me
a brother from Harlem another from Charleston
with charts and digest to share and compare
with mine — even a woman who had once been a man
the surgeon leaving the gland behind
a band of brothers …and sisters
united by dire circumstance
but oh, how we danced!
on speaking tours
I often ask my audience if there
is any hurtful thing that they have done
to another or had done to them
any accident or illness
that when I snapped my fingers
would be out of their life forever?
many raise their hands
not me
how would I know not to hurt another
until I hurt my best friend
a knife wound so deep it took years to heal
lessons are learned the hard way
and dealing with “terminal” cancer
and what that entails
is the last thing I would wish away
if it meant I would miss arguably
the best two days of my life
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