Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Certain Scoundrel

 

At the cocktail party

in celebration of

our thirtieth anniversary,

amid friends and relatives;

someone asks my wife,

who has never been

an overtly romantic sentimentalist,

what the secret

is to our longevity.

 

She holds her

pregnant pause

a little longer than necessary,

looks at me and says,

“Better the devil you know

than the devil you don’t know.”

And with that

gives me a wink

and a kiss on the cheek.


Acquired Tastes

 

To know the bouquet of wine,

You must first

Let it breathe

And then allow it

To escape the glass

With its unique perfume.

 

To know the flavor

Of wine

There must be a first

Time taste.

 

Then with that experience

Behind you,

The complexities

Of each varietal

Can be stored

In the memory.

 

And so it is

With you.


Gathering Essentials

 

Wednesday is errand day.

I find my keys in the rose petal bowl,

my wallets is in the carved wooden tray

and

my blue hat on the door hook.

 

I cannot find my phone.

I search, curse and research.

Finally I find it,

charging

in the powder room.

(Who charges a phone

in the powder room?)

There are two text messages

I sent myself with reminders to buy

strawberries and Dawn dish soap.

I would have forgotten them.

 

As I am backing the car

out of the garage,

I suddenly turn off the car

and hurry back into the house.

 

I’ve forgotten

your heart

and I never go anywhere

without it.

R. Gerry Fabian

gerryfabian@yahoo.com

Helpless I do not know if good intentions prevail among the elected, among the appointed, leaving me apprehensive that the fate ...