Tozerboy

Below is an old favorite of mine by the late Raymond Carver. 
In the Year 2020

Which of us will be left then –
old, dazed, unclear –
but willing to talk about our dead friends?
Talk and talk, like an old faucet leaking.
So that the young ones,
respectful, touchingly curious,
will find themselves stirred
by the recollections.
By the very mention of [...]

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Cool gray limestone on a light Summer night,
Bare feet gliding along moss covered banks,
We shed our clothes below a Barley Moon,
And slowly slid into the dark green river.
Warm water slipped around your slender legs,
Quickly hiding your perfect nakedness,
It’s wetness, barely hiding yours.
You stood there resisting only the river’s flow,
As I entered where all was darkly [...]

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white flakes
on a jet black coat
a green glove
sits patiently atop
a bush
looking like a lamb
upon the altar
a viking takes the stairs
at the harvard t,
stops
at the top
and asks for change
asian girls
in bad high heels
maintain their momentum
a waspy boy wanting love
gnaws his nail
like
it is
a
salty
pork bone
a short man
on a tall ladder
watches basketball
on tv
i went out looking
for james dean today
but [...]

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that first big mall i visited,
where I saw that book that made me think,
but I could not tell
him in the car after.
where the tuxedos of bright white waited for my prom,
the first place where shoes were bought
for a wedding,
not the last.
the last place where I saw my father alive,
the first place I landed,
after he died,
on [...]

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I heard a Robin this morning as I was waking. I haven’t seen one yet, but maybe today. Spring really is in the air, full of promise. It is a pregnant time for me too. Lots of possiblitiy, some of it risky, I suppose, and all of it up to me. And my daughter is [...]

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You seem to dance with me
and I wonder why.
I surely dance with you
and also wonder why.
We
do not touch,
we
do not talk.
I never hear you breathe,
smell your breath,
or fall into your neck and hair,
when I pass
the edge
and fall.
And
I wonder why.
Do you imagine,
the way I imagine,
your perfect body
upon my bed
surrendered?

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Green trucks, green chairs and green water
All flow through my thoughts.
A constant color.
Each one a reminder of a pleasant surrender.
Your slender arms, clinging and holding
Me, so completely, that I can’t forget that
I was young, and you were young and
Perfect too.
A brief moment when your perfect body
Was held close to my perfect body,
Resisting only the river’s [...]

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New shoes, white shirt,
A noisy T ride.
A cold common walk.
I finally arrive.
No boss,
A late boy.
Car crash ring tones
Wait, coffee, wait,
Wait, wait,
Wait,
Wait.
Two live Kennedys,
One quite cute.
Talk, email, coffee and calls.
A boring gray desk,
And tired old men,
Time to set-up,
Hurry and wait.
Trips back and forth,
Load up, uncoil,
Set-up, tape down.
A splinter removed.
Too many text messages,
About amazing rich men,
Time passes [...]

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