Two Poems To Go With Daryl's Photographs

Hello readers. My dear and talented friend Daryl, of the Through My Eyes blog, has teamed up with me in hopes of entertaining you with our combined efforts. The following two poems are mine, written specifically to go with Daryl's original photographs.

AUNT DEE



She liked to sit out on the porch swing, did Aunt Dee.

Of a summer evening, she liked to watch the people go by.

She would say to me,

--about strangers walking down Albe Street--

"That one's got a heavy care,

This one's dreams are passing odd--

That one's a diddler with a wormy brain,

And this one shines and is touched by God."



Once she saw black horses high-stepping down the cobblestones

With somber plumes above their handsome heads.

I looked and saw nothin'

Except Mrs. Winton unloading her groceries and yelling at her boy to come help.

Aunt Dee turned kinda gray, like bad weather rolling in,

And three days later, Uncle George fell down the basement stairs on his way to fetch a screwdriver,

And snapped his neck.



I like to sit out on the porch swing and remember Aunt Dee.

Of a summer evening, sometimes I see black horses high-stepping down the blacktop

With somber plumes above their handsome heads.

I never tell my husband what I've seen,

But I do go inside and make sure everything's in good repair

And that he stays

Upstairs.

________

The Church Of The Gingerbread God



Clouds pale and faint like the ashes of saints

Kiss the tower of the church of the gingerbread god



While birds brush the bell on their way through to hell

In the tower of the church of the gingerbread god.



Prayers rise and fill

The body of the bell

Til the striker can't move and it dies;

But it still seems to ring

Each year in the spring

Releasing the prayers like sighs.



Birds with no wings and clouds with no mouths

Nest in the tower of the church of the gingerbread god,

While the pony-up basket is kept in a casket

Buried below in the yard.

_______