Budapest

I picked the title for no reason. I have been rolling the word around in my mind for a day or so, and love putting the almost silent "h" at the end. It's the same sound that comes out of a fresh cream puff, when bitten.

I am thinking about reading some of my poetry at Liminal: an Alternative Artspace in Roanoke, this Thursday. The only weight these words carry is the time it has been since I last read. A bit of nerve is required, and the poems themselves, but I am hoping it will inspire me.

I had a creative writing professor long ago, who explained that story telling is the oldest profession. Whatever happened in the dim past was conveyed to others by stories, told at the end of a cold day perhaps, around a fire. As soon as humans could invent an alphabet, off we went, making the audience of the fire circle that much larger. But the writing tradition remains rooted in the oral tradition always. And the reflection of that connection shines in the reading of works out loud.

It's not as if I will be boo'ed off stage either.  But there is a way to read a poem, or short fiction, or any kind of fiction, and it is that, that I am rusty at.

But enough about me...have you ever wanted to go to Budapest? It's an ancient city, and would be mad fun...you know it would. At least that's the thought that I entertain, sitting in a small, cold corner of the world, where the winds are wild over the fields. Of course, there would be coffee and pastries, and glittering lights...

But which poems to read? How about this:

She dresses him
careful
as always. Sends
us out
of the room
as her mother did.
Dressed him
in those clothes he
loved for
his garden.
Bare now
frozen to the ground.

We had discussed
possibilities
that I curl him
into a cardboard crate
bury him
with the cats
in the backyard.

St. Francis standing
just as godlike
as any.

He loved his garden
He loved his garden
He loved his garden

I love the cats
scratching
toes deep
in wood.
While I refuse
to think what
to put in the
pocket of the
father
I love when
he is dressed
in his best.