NaPoWriMo #2 – The Willow / Spring

This is my second post for National Poetry Month 2010
• one free verse poem
• one haiku

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Remembering Willow Pond…

 

The Willow

•

the old man sat quietly
day after day
hands resting on his knees
day after day
hardly moving

save to raise his hand
to brush his brow
or adjust his cap

day after day
quietly
on the same park bench
at the pond
near the same tree
same willow

you could watch him come
mid-morning

see him leave
at dinner time

day after day
sitting there
hands on his knees
quietly
same bench
same tree

one morning
as he sat there
I left my office
walked across the street
into the park
approached him
smiled
and sat down beside him
quietly

he said nothing
so we sat together
for a while
quietly
on the bench
by the tree

finally
I spoke up

why do you sit here
old man
sit here
everyday
day after day
here on this bench
watching the pond
so quietly

he tilts his head
speaks softly
I’ve come here for years
he says

but how can that be
I say
these office buildings
this park
they’re all new
how could you have come
to this park
for years

not to this park
he says
not to this park
to this tree
me
and all my friends
came to willow pond
to this tree
this old willow
for years
day after day

why
I ask
why to this tree

quiet smile
we played cards
in its shade

he explains
we talked
laughed
we listened
at the pond
in its wonderful shade
day after day
this wonderful willow

where are your friends
I ask
why are they not here
with you
on the bench

because
he hesitates
they are gone
he says finally
quietly

gone
gone where

I ask

gone
is all he says
quietly
unmoving
hands on his knees
all gone

oh
I say
I see

do you
is all he says

so why do you sit here
day after day

I ask

he stares straight ahead
and after a bit
he says
I’m listening

listening
I say
listening for what

he sits quietly
for a while
then
without changing his gaze
without raising his hands
from his knees
he says
for anything
anything familiar

a small tear
glistens
in the corner of his eye

• • •

________________________

 

 

Spring

•

purple finch sings out

budding trees are plentiful

spring is upon us

• • •

poem and haiku by: rob kistner © 2010

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…for more NaPoWriMo 2010: readwritepoem

30 thoughts on “NaPoWriMo #2 – The Willow / Spring

  1. Such a hearing-it-aloud quality to “The Willow”, the narrative just flows, and there’s a tenderness in it, and understanding.

    Your haiku is a lovely little gem.

  2. Hi Rob,

    I felt sympathy with the old man, having to tolerate the dummy beside him! A poignant poem.

  3. I loved “The Willow.” So beautiful, and it flowed so well. Usually long poems scare me off, but I couldn’t stop reading this one. I was riveted.

    I love how you include photos with your work as well!

  4. Rob, I am totally digging your free verse. It really speaks to me. Especially:

    “because
    he hesitates
    they are gone
    he says finally
    quietly”

    Pain. It reminds me of pain, but it also reminds me of overcoming loss.

  5. Your Day 2 poem is such a touching story! Favorite lines:
    “he sits quietly
    for a while
    then
    without changing his gaze
    without raising his hands
    from his knees
    he says
    for anything
    anything familiar”

    I very much enjoyed both poems though!

  6. The old man is “listening”; perhaps to hear the voice of G*d, perhaps to hear the joyful voices of his old friends. How we all try to listen to something else from somewhere else to give us hope of new tomorrows; that there is something other than what is here on the surface. These otherworldly voices could be calling the old man home to his heavenly home. When he hears something it will then be his “time” and he will gladly go with his friends to his new home. Spring encourages new tomorrows. For the old man who lives in the past with his many bittersweet memories, there is only the hope of a rebirth. He does so long to be with his old friends and loved ones all gone now. A sad and heart-wrenching poem yet hopeful in the word “glisten”. Transformational. The Haiku gives me a light breezy-air feeling and spring wings! Thank-you Rob!

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