Sounds of Scribbles

Jots of thoughts in my journal
How does editing sound,
Illegible words, random thoughts
Scratching out the rhyme
Fighting the meter

the lines through the jetsam
Like the word balloons in the Batman show

Erasures like sandpaper
Maybe a planer
Milling raw oak into boards
Fighting the knots in my prose
to see the grain embedded within

August 18, 2004 21:58

Sounds of Scribbles

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/sounds-of-scribbles.html

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 35,600+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Struggle

A bit of war poetry
read by featured poets
Brought it back to me
that night on the floor

Each of you with the pursed Abbott lips
She with worried angry eyes
you with wild in yours

Out of place without him
in your dining room, the center of family activity
(after the kitchen)
Now your bedroom

I started from sleep, upstairs
heard her call for help
Because you wouldn’t bend to her will
Let her assist you that time

I struggled behind you
caught your limp thinning arms
under the pits, forcing both of us up
Pull of my back against your dead weight

Putting you back to bed, your red splotched arms
loose skin and anger
The loss you were fighting
Your dignity, independence, your mind
Knowing even in the losing
What was being lost

She brushed her hand now
against your brow, your hair
After the struggle
Sliding in beside you in bed,
Where he had been for those years

In the room with the wallpaper he hung,
with the creaking boards and corner hunch
Where we all shared so much
Seven children, spouses, countless children
Fifty of us on one Thanksgiving alone

Seeing you there, labored breath
Unease, knowing a piece of the terror
When you had snapped your face to mine
When I was on the floor behind you
Struggling to help you
Maintaining your pride
on the floor.

----

edited March 13, 2015

Struggle – v3

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/03/struggle-v3.html

edited November 27, 2014

Struggle – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2014/11/struggle-v2.html

Thanksgiving Day

August 18, 2004 21:53

Struggle

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/struggle.html

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,100 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Alzheimers, child, Family, giving, God, hands, Poetry Where You Live, senses, sharing, Thanksgiving, Writing Poetry, America, memories, mother, daughter, struggle, dementia

#Alzheimers #child #Family #giving #God #hands #senses #sharing #Thanksgiving #Writing #Poetry #America #memories #mother #daughter #struggle #dementia

Nice Tie

Bass player
back of the room
middle of the set
Mouthing a message to me
“Nice Tie”
‘till I got it

If only he knew
$3 for $10
from the pushcart
at Downtown Crossing.
But right for the mood
of the Quarter
where it began
and grew

Back to the roots
He came
And I did too
To feel the swell
the Beat, through me.

I left with a smile
and knowing I would remember
and return
But without my $3 tie.

8/7/04 18:05

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 21,710+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Post-Graduate

What do we learn from the roads not taken,
of choices made without full exploration?
“What if”, and “where would I be”, if only…

Writer when 18,
“he leaves to become the next John Steinbeck”
But a different path taken

No post-graduate year,
Mr. Paquette’s idea,
of writing and study

Full time college instead,
because of Dad’s dread,
the struggle he endured

Numbers, not words
tapped my precision,
though unconscious decision

Poet at forty, closing the circle
Reading and typing the law
Leaves me in awe
at the power of words
That held me back then
and which I use now
to reach and end.

================

edited November 17, 2018

Post-Graduate – v2

8/8/04 11:49

Post-Graduate

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/post-graduate.html

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,100 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

God, John, John 1, Law, leaves, New Hampshire, path, poem, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, school, college, dreams, hope, untaken, writing, reading, novel, poet, writer,

#God #John #John1 #Law #leaves #NewHampshire #path #poem #poetry #school #college #dreams #hope #untaken #writing #reading #novel #poet #writer #calling

Masked Bandits

Nocturnal marauders in my yard
Villains of the woods, with masks to boot
Out in my land looking for food
Are they in league with the feed store
Given a map of all the customers
So that more and more seed must be bought
To replenish the feeders for feathered friends
But only to be taken again and again
By the masked bandits of the night.

================

edited November 14, 2018

Masked Bandits – v2

8/14/04 14:36

Masked Bandits

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/masked-bandits.html

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,050 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

creator, feather, forest, friends, giving, God, poem, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, sharing, yard, raccoon,

#creator #feather #forest #friends #giving #God #poem #poetry #sharing #yard #raccoon

The Island

Years of practice
vacations to the same place,
or at least the same land
Knowing the lay of it,
the pace of the place
The who’s and the what’s
the water, sand, food,
sights and sounds.

====================

edited November 14, 2018

The Island

Draft 8/7/04 21:57

The Island

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/island.html

&

edited February 10, 2018

The Wind off the Ocean – v2

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-wind-off-ocean-v2.html

2/9/2010

The Wind off the Ocean

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2010/02/wind-off-ocean.html

Gay Head Beach,

Aquinnah,

Martha’s Vineyard, MA

1996, after Hurricane Eduardo

&

edited November 4, 2018

Glassworks – v3

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/11/glassworks-v3.html

edited November 3, 2018

Glassworks – v2

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/11/glassworks-v2.html

Written 6/20/04 14:06

Glassworks

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/06/glassworks.html

about Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks

http://www.mvglassworks.com/gallery.html

somewhere I spent hours,

over many summers in the 1990’s watching bowls,

pitchers, pictures, and more, come to life.

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,050 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

air, beach, colors, creator, God, grow, life, Martha, Martha's Vineyard, mouth, New Hampshire, orange, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, summer, vine, work, yard, yellow,

#air #beach #colors #creator #God #grow #life #Martha #MarthasVineyard #mouth #orange #poetry #summer #vine #work #yard #yellow #glass

==================

memories, family nature, imagination, senses, sight, Raymond A. Foss, Poetry Where You Live, Martha’s Vineyard, touch, texture, sand, wind, water, Hurricane Eduardo,

The #Wind off the #Ocean http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2010/02/wind-off-ocean.html  … #memories #family #nature #imagination #senses #sight #PoetryWhereYouLive #MarthasVineyard #touch #texture #sand #water #HurricaneEduardo #poetry #poem #GayHead #Aquinnah

================

Martha’s Vineyard, ocean, water, vacation, memories, familiar, creator, God, New Hampshire, poem, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, sight, sound,

#MarthasVineyard #ocean #water #vacation #memories #familiar #creator #God #NewHampshire #poem #poetry #sight #sound

Old Friends

They meet after months and yet
The time melts away
And they are back in the swing
Ready to banter and bait
To play off one against the other
Of easy laughter and witty repartee
Easy smiles and quick jabs
To while away to hours
And drink in life again
As they do, as old friends do
With relish and a tall tale or two

August 15, 2004

Old Friends

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/old-friends.html

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com)  for usage. See all 46,460 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.