“I must go in for the fog is rising”
– that fog’s not real! just Sandburg
and his cats working up a steam,
pumping the bellows on his fog
machine – wait’ll you see his Big
Shoulders! Don’t go in when you
haven’t really come out yet, stay
for a spell, still time to try something
new before you … – take a lover
with dirt rooted in the cracks of his
hands, see bullfights in sunny old
Spain, dip strawberries in champagne,
eat chili con carne and oysters in the
half-shell, with Tabasco by the dash,
still time to revel in the known –
kneeling in your garden – feel
summer burn gold into gourds,
hear mice snip thru twine round
harvest sheaves, see bloom of yr skirt
crawl with spiderlings, time to
dash it all beneath pane of pond
ice its face looking back through
at you gasping for the breath to
give itself voice at last.
Written for and shared with dVerse and the “Poetics: Words of Departure” prompt posted by Laura Bloomsbury on 14 Tuesday Jun 2022.
My first book-length translation is now available from Amazon: How To Make Verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky:
Jedediah Smith 
Wow, Jedediah, love this plea for a beautiful pause before leaving. Excellent!
Thank you. Did not plan ahead, just came out that way.
this is a litany of all the wonderful things life has to offer – an offering to a dying woman but it is her time and she knows it. Such an enjoyable read, the way each line slips to the next, full of amazing imagery and light humour
“just Sandburg
and his cats working up a steam,
pumping the bellows on his fog
machine “
Thank you for reading so carefully.
I would love to do all of that. Whew, that is quite a list!
a poem to make one want to really live!
This is incredibly moving!! A poem worth reading again and again! ❤️❤️
Thanks so much! That really gives me a boost
You’re most welcome! It’s an amazing poem 😀