Thursday, September 17, 2015

Another Nice Thing Happened

     At a recent festival, I sold a book to a friend who said she would get me a check at work. We work in the same school district, but at different locations. Inter-office mail works, and with the check wa
s a card with a really sweet note.

     My friend said she read a poem from the book to a local artsits' group. That really touched me, and of course I will let her know. She also said some nice things about the book and about myself.

    For my next book, I intend to be more intentional about arranging the poems. But for this one, I have gotten a lot of positive feedback about the opening poem, which I run here again:

At times I want to ride
At times I want to ride a chestnut horse
over wide, undulating, endless steppes,
with hooves pounding out a staccato beat,
our heads lowered to enhance speed,
pointing toward the elusive white stag
ever within our sight, ever out of reach,
leading to verdant valley far away.

Years ago I only kept the gas tank half-full
in my ’72 Duster slant 6.
Great was the temptation to drive beyond
the mountains hazy with residual smog,
looming as I dropped from the 55
on slender concrete ribbon down to the
San Diego Freeway towards Irvine.
The time had not come for me to leave.

Now my life no longer fits into a car.
The white stag has blended into the mists
and I am content to be where I am.
Dismounting, I set the horse to pasture

and sit sheltered by the tall pine trees.

Arthur Turfa, copyright, 2015 "Places and Times"

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