I Searched a Year for a Title

By Michael Tapia

In this case, I did not actually search for a title for a year and then give up. The poems were written within the last year and often derived from events that occurred over the last year, for example, “Sir Robin Syndrome - Uvalde 2022”. “At the end of the Parking Lot” is more personal, since I retired this past December. The poem “Leviathan” is in response to the overturning of Roe vs Wade. It is the year that binds and indeed I am still searching, trying to put a label on the year (Year of the Tiger?). However, I have not yet reached a conclusion since events continually make me re-evaluate and search some more. To quote a song,
“I want your spirit to climb
Let me entertain you"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Tapia
• Release date: Jul 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005321703

Michael Tapia

Born and raised in San Antonio Texas. Retired from the USAF as a Russian Cryptologic Linguist. Had tours primarily in Germany, with six years in Berlin, Germany. Graduated from University of Maryland overseas division, B.A, A.A., Community College of Air Force, A.S.

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I Searched a Year for a Title

Copyright ©2022 by Michael Tapia

CI-549151813

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author.

Table of Contents

Preface

Sir Robin Syndrome

Uvalde 2022

The Day Started

The End of the Parking Lot

Tell Me

One Hour

The Bookmark Ignored

Horoscope

A Piece of Me

Belief in the Finite

Black Hole

Days of the Week

Deliberate, The Rain Came

Wisdom of the Dog

From Here

Good and Tired

History

Hubris and Greed

Only Mountains and Trees

Personal Ghost

Polaroid Flash

Seems Like Rain

Escape From Love

Silence in the morning

Strong Coffee

Take Me On

The Bill is Due

The Urn

The Village

Wait for Me

Now That You Are Older

Bubbles

Leviathan

The Dark One

Preface

At some point we will all have that professor or teacher who has a certain pet peeve that has to be addressed before teaching or learning can begin. In this case, for me, it was a professor who insisted that all work be titled. At the time, I was going through an untitled phase and it may have been the fashion at the time since most of the other students did not title their poems either. The professor stated that she considered it a sign of disrespect to the work if it did not have a title; if it did not have a title then we should consider it not worth reading and she would not accept any work that was untitled. I was naively of the opinion that I did want the reader to have preconceived notions, to be influenced by a title, and would hopefully be pleasantly surprised with the first reading. As a compromise, the first line became the title but eventually this was soon abandoned since it often interfered with the meter of the poem.

A title has to do a lot of work to do and it has to do it quickly. It first defines the work. Is