A Loose Rendering: Time, Memory, and Other Considerations: Memory

By Thomas P. Bird

What does it mean to think of time and memory loosely? T.P. Bird's work helps us answer that question. He divides his fifty "renderings" into three sections-"Time & Memory"; "Poets, Pres

• Language: English
• Publisher: Golden Antelope Press
• Release date: Dec 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781952232749

Thomas P. Bird

T.P. (Tom) Bird is a retired industrial drafter/designer and Christian minister. He has published in a number of journals and is the author of a chapbook as well as three full collections. Bird lives with his wife, Sally, in Lexington, KY.

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Copyright ©2022 by T. P Bird.

Cover by Rusty Nelson.

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be duplicated in any way without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the form of brief excerpts or quotations for review purposes.

ISBN: 978-1-952232-73-2

ISBN: 978-1-952232-74-9 (e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022947401

Published by:

Golden Antelope Press

715 E. McPherson

Kirksville, Missouri 63501

Available at:

Golden Antelope Press

715 E. McPherson

Kirksville, Missouri, 63501

Phone: [phone]

http://www.goldenantelope.com

Email: [e-mail]

Contents

Dedication

Part One: Time & Memory

If You Knew the Yearnings of Aging Men

Of Time, Memory, and Other Distractions

A Man Takes a Walk in November Woods

In the Thinness of the Autumn Air

Remembering the Village Tavern

Red's Barber Shop

You Were One of Them

A January Night at the Orchard View Motel

Cafe Life with the Old Prof

A Little Bit of Vasana* Perhaps

Rereading the Dharma Bums Fifty Years Later

My Father's Memories of Black Creek Road

Visit to My Father's Hometown

A Night at the Theater

Conception #1

Washington Park

Part Two: Poets, Presidents, and Me

In the Beginning

The Fabulous Fifties

The Sixties Begin

California Dreaming at the End of the Sixties

Somewhere Over the Rhine

Getting Away From Olive Drab

The Slippery Slope

Fighting Off the Darkness

Time Out of Mind

Deliverance

The In-Between Years

Into the New Millennium

And the Beat Goes On

Part Three: Other Considerations

Somewhat Observing the Perseids

An Instant Coffee Poem

Riff

Conception #2

The Voyage of the Rational Self

Getting by on Epigrams in a Non-Metaphorical World

A Postmodern Interlude

Monologue of a Man Trapped in an Old Journal

A Fanciful Chronicle on the Rewriting of Ancient History

While on the Bank of the River Styx—

The Refugee

That's a Good Question!

White Stones

Notes on a Search for Symbols and Metaphors

Of Tributaries, Rivers and Seas

Thinking About God's Waiting Room While Buying an Overpriced Latte at Starbucks

Contemplation in an Old Graveyard

Warning to Myself

Just Beyond

Sights and Sounds

A Fortunate Man

Acknowledgments

Dedication:

In memory of my father and mother

Paul T. Bird and Rita Saxe Bird

Part One:

Time & Memory

If You Knew the Yearnings of Aging Men

If you knew the yearnings

of aging men—you would

know that their stories are

what really matter—and in

the telling, someone truly

listens, truly remembers—

even now, as well as in the

aftermath of this existing

world. For such are the

gleanings of a field not yet

left fallow to produce sorry

weeds and vicious briars.

If you knew the yearnings

of aging men—you would

hold them in your heart, and

know your stories are soon

to follow.

Of Time, Memory, and Other Distractions

Poets walk in circles—coming

back to well hidden, captured

thoughts—inspecting a mental

trap-line like trappers after pelts.

These thoughts perform for

an audience of one before being

exposed to the external world.

Thus, my walk takes me to

another snare.

Standing in a group of men,

talking—a quick flash crosses

my inner sight, interrupting the

flow of my thought and

the conversation—if just for a

moment. It's a view of myself

as an aging man—no longer

relevant, afraid of descending.

It's also happened while I stood

before a mirror, shaving.

I saw my face grow out of focus

as steam washed across the glass.

Wiping at the reflection, a

stranger looked back out of eyes

like ice. The years are both a

friend and an impediment.

I can't go after old images

disappearing around a corner;

I might get terribly lost. Yet,

there is a great temptation to

explore. Only a lack of strength

will hold me here.

I may laugh at the follies of youth—

yet, I grow impatient about the

impending conclusion of my life.

I see young bodies move with

ease—no pain in their rising

or falling. Often, I would like to

burst forth with bravado and

daring—to both conquer and

beguile the world at large.

Yet, the desire passes quickly,

amused at being noticed,