12/7/41/9/11/01
by Steve Gaines
between what might otherwise have been
an arbitrary date in December nineteen forty-one
and another in September two thousand and one
the world has turned at an inconstant rate
sometimes at peace
sometimes not
Page 2 of 8
Lucky Number Twelve
by Steve Gaines
in the last moments of the millennium
depending of course on how
you count the beginning or end millennium
wise
at the end of December
early on the eighteenth
the year two thousand just about gone
along about three of the A.M.
in New Jersey
grand child number twelve
just one shy of the thirteenth number
as lucky as any other number as numbers go
shows up in the world
after keeping his mother busy in the process
for the better part of twenty-four hours
a boy with copious and dark hair makes his appearance
a long awaited debut
but I suppose about as long as most baby waitings go
Unless
by Steve Gaines
Ten years ago
walking down town
on a late fall morning
with a gentle ache beneath my left arm
coming and going
with the up and down
of the gentle slopes
and on my bike later that day
riding with the same curious pain
describing the relative effort of my
ride
wondering casually what was going on
Diving off Light Poles
by Steve Gaines
lacking the cliffs of Acapulco
in the flatlands of Nebraska
we discovered the tops of light poles
in the summer of nineteen fifty-five
in the long story of teenagers coming of age
coming on to the approaches of manhood
climbing out on that limb unsuspecting
Lighthouse on the Prairie
by Steve Gaines
it was a time of longing for the past
or hoping for the future
it was a time caught at the stand still of a decade
the depression coming begrudgingly to an end
July boiling like a hot plate
days and nights of weather in the extreme
nineteen thirties afternoons
one hundred degree cauldrons
and people sleeping on the grass
sleeping on the roof on the fire escape
and somewhere in the blare of headlines
war sending up its warnings
off in the distant east in Europe
a far away unknown place, exploding!
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