Not Part of It

Being a bystander watching it happen

And having nothing to do with it, just a

Spectator, an onlooker, bleacher seats

With phone in hand, video rolling as if it

Made a difference, changed anything at

All, no nothing unfolding for us, witless

Witnesses, the watchers watching it all

Unfold beyond their control and hoping

For the best or at least not the worst.

Parental Presence

Parents fit nicely

Into poetry.

Side by side

Elbow to elbow

Mom and dad

Continuing on

Never finished

For the poet

And his or her poems.

On the page

They are easier

To control

Reversed roles

Play out.

A poem can

Move them about

Get them

To do the things

Expose their

Weaknesses and

Their strengths.

We know

We’ll never be done

With them

Or them with us.

 In Retirement

Lived here

So long

It seems

Like eternity

Sometimes.

Various lives

I’ve led –

Childhood

Local schools

Even college

Now retired

Into this

This wordy

Quietude.

But times

I feel like

A stranger

No one knows

A face no one

Remembers

A name

They might

Have heard

But can’t

Remember

Where or when.