Meanderings

By John Close

a poem is place
for hearts to feel and for minds to see.
it is a plea
for understanding, for empathy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514432723

John Close

John Close is a retired Ironworker from New York City. He is an Army veteran, is married with two children and six grandchildren and two cats. He likes to read and write, to strum guitar and to keep fit. Drinking coffee with pals at Dunkin Donuts or the horseracing track is a good part of his social life and he and his Mrs. own two weeks of timeshare in Aruba for a change of pace.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by John Close.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2015920250

ISBN:              Hardcover                  978-1-5144-3274-7

                        Softcover                    978-1-5144-3273-0

                        Ebook                         978-1-5144-3272-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/13/2016

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

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Contents

Quandary

Learnin’

Seashore

My Girl

Shitcanned

Merry Christmas, Fanny

Ethiopia

You

Destination

Knockout

Eccentric

Immortality

Assumptions

Insignificance

Photo

Veterans

Forty-seven

Bellylaugh

Fatherly

Identifyin’

9/11/11

Pond

Relativity

2/14/14

Backsliding

Entrapment

Serenity

Pointless

Whatthefuck?!

Good Morning, Char

Uninvited

Fate

Relief

Dumped

Instruction

Migratory

Bayley

Summer

Scaling

Investigation

Afterglow

Slippery

Councilwoman

Astray

Noel

Mastication

Hoopster

Ageing

En route

Firmament

Snafu

Receptors

Spring

Limitations

Happy Birthday

Lovebirds

Interrogatives

Widow

Christmas in Heaven

6925

Currents

Aging

Striker

Yuletide

El

Bloomburghers

Yearning

Escapism

Bear

Heatwave

Blizzard

Dream Baby

Elderly

Guilt

Tomboy

Sundown

Experience

Dear Karen

Matchmaker

Woodland

Purgatory

Adamant

44

Resignation

Gardeners

October

Awaiting

Brooklyn

Mighty Mite

Procrastinator

Hazy

Shapes

Branches

Solitaire

Mrs. Lu

Self-Published

Proposal

Swamped

Duality

Bedlock

Commencement

Silence

Daydreamer

Sorrow

Homewreckers

Angel

Forty-six

49ers

Breezy-boy

Seventy One

Intellectuals

Reconciliate

Fall

Numbing

Hypothermia

Grandchildren,

Eulogizin’

Dragoons

Nightmares

Subalterns

The DR

Retirement

Santo Domingo

Mean

Wifey

Lovers

Anthropology

Felon

Comeback

Hairball

Binoculars

Tribal

Replacement

Dear Chloe,

Florence

Kempeitai

Countdown

Harken

Jackson

Reservation

Acquainting

Streetwalker

Fries

Appetites

Hearsay

Disaster

Bookmaker

Ritual

Sowing

Imploring

Connection

Reflection

Foliation

Timeless

Enduring

Tranquilizer

Eerie

Cardio

Accessories

IED

Perspective

Frontman

Lyver

Listening

God Bless Suzan

Terminal

Power

Fortuitous

Sixty nine

Nam

Leave-taking

Graveyard

Happy 48th

Doors

NRA

Harbaughs

Conception

How

Pragmatist

Septuagenarian

Death

Latina

Repositories

Crush

Ruminating

Thanks, Will

Elimination

Johnny

Be My Valentine

ExCon

Knots

Performer

Fakery

Online

It

Us

Conclusions

Hypnotist

Photosynthesis

Declaration

Anya

Friendless

Whatever

Paradise

Secret

Moniker

Dongan Avenue

Principle

Surrender

Guidance

Accounting

Wintering

Blasphemer

Sub-zero

Meteorologist

Jackie D

Imaginings

November

Hospice

Busing

Weather

Handicapped

Herpetologist

Offspring

Holiday

Genius

Barbara

Forty-five

Exasperation

Interval

Countryside

Negligence

Waterbed

Credence

Septuagenarians

Valentine’s

Zai Jian

for my wife and our children,

their spouses,

and their children

Quandary

we never see you now

and we don’t know why.

not sure if we want to know;

best to let it lie —

anyways… take care, son.

you know where we are.

we’ll come see you, if you like;

we got a new car.

Learnin’

hell, no, it ain’t fair, son;

no one said it would be.

my daddy told me that.

i mighta’ been three.

the one time i forgot —

i mighta’ been four —

he slapped the side of my head

n’ i ain’t forgot no more.

Seashore

he is the kind who,

after stepping on a shell

too delicate to withstand weight

did exclaim oh, hell!

as he made the halves to one

and saw a beauteous thing —

one which might invite his muse

or bid his heart to sing…

the halves went in his pocket.

he could not answer why;

he knew what was would never be

what should have caught his eye.

My Girl

you hold me in your hand.

you put me down,

then lift me up,

then place me where i stand.

if not for you i would not know

how deep a love can be;

how sometimes though we dim its flame

we always sense its glow…

my girl is always telling me

i have no need to pout.

when she takes me in her arms

of that i have no doubt.

Shitcanned

i ain’t never missed,

in my whole life,

the way i’m missin’ you

now.

ole Billy tole me

i look real bad.

says he can’t understand

how

a gal done my head

the way you did.

n’ how you creased my

brow.

ain’t about wrong, or right;

he’s just sayin’

i’m mopin’, like some damn

cow.

Merry Christmas, Fanny

come over here and share a kiss;

here, beside the tree…

and never doubt, not for once,

how much i feel for thee;

how much i need and want you still

despite the time gone in…

for truth be told, the time gone in

my heart did truly fill.

Ethiopia

here women walk for water

four times a day,

an hour each way,

without complaint

they with empty cans go down

and full ones up

for all to sup

despite the taint

and knowledge of thirst disease;

not all but some

to soon succumb

to cold constraint.

they live here.

they never go.

and they die here

in sorrow faint.

You

i stand with you;

i sit with you.

i walk with you

and lie with you.

i speak with you;

i