DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?

HALLOWEEN, 2022

 

The big buzz, early

Neighborhood kids, the littlest ones, parents in tow

Seem to know

It's special

Costumes 

Treats

And adult reactions 

 

Fun

Serious fun

 

We don’t neighbor enough  

Sure, their lives, busy  

But now at my front door

 

Night of opportunity

Encourage the magic 

Kids visiting a different world

Ask each one about theirs

Stretched kids' imaginations

            When did I stop exercising mine?

 

All Hallows Eve, thanks for the opportunity

Lighting pumpkins

Lighting anything, doing whatever

To add some magic

 

Eventually, too dark

Even for spooks

 

Look, leftovers

A Kit Kat bar, a Rice Krispies treat

Skittles and chocolate covered mints

 

Damn, it was fun

 

October 31

DRK

  HALLOWEEN, 2015

In two hours the magic disappears
Final chance, kids -- decide and make it good
How best to treat the ‘hood
Six to eight p.m. — until next year

Two hours of
Mom and dad, toddlers in tow
Not sure who
But recognize candy being shared

Grade-schoolers on their own
Kid time, peak time
Imagine that!  Imagine this!
It doesn’t get any better than
Bats!  And mischief!

Older ‘tweens chauffeured in, on the make
Know precisely why and how
A science to them
Reports will follow

Two hours and Halloween’s oddities
. . . In the way
But the holiday season is still young

Anticipating turkey fun

Boo!  Y’hear?

DRK
11/3/19

  HOMECOMINGS
AND GOINGS

    “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
    And sorry I could not travel both
    And be one traveler, long I stood
    And looked down one as far as I could
    To where it bent in the undergrowth;

    Then took the other, .  . . ,”

        Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

A class reunion brought us home
From our many roads
Seven decades after we began
To work our way
Through schools

Toward what we would become

I witnessed those roads converge
Across a cocktail aisle
And could not suppress the urge to smile

    Gracious hospitality
   Friendships refreshed
   Noisy stories voiced and heard
   A few beers shared
   The weather, perfectly clear 
   Plenty of sun

And a candle was lighted
For those whose courses had been run

We remembered the teachers

Who taught us skills

Today, looking back, those skills
Tidy and useful though they became
Have largely done with me

It’s questions now that freshen me
Urge me to look ahead, not back
For the new, the next
Not the past



Eventually, weekend done 
Our internal officers sorted through 
Our happy traffic jam
And sent us on our way 
Back down our roads again 

Mine, dimly lit, suggest to me
There still may be
Something new to see


God’s prod -- past seventy -- to seek maturity

May you enjoy good health and well-lit roads
I remain grateful that my way
Has always been and will continue to be enriched by yours


To the FHS class of 1955
Dennis Keefe
November 21, 2015

 WATCHING THE FROST MELT ON MY NEIGHBOR’S ROOF


Sunshine lights our morning room,
enhancing colors, muted
after noon.

Across the street, facing west,
her house, next in line, for the October sun
to warm its roof.
By eight a toe-hold gained,
then a northward march
across the expanse of flat
frosted white.

One cup of coffee
and today’s work is done.
Her roof, returned to shingle tint.
Our room, again in shade.
The sun, arcing on,
risks being less
without one man’s regard.

DRK
Oct. 26, 2012

 

 

WE CALL IT FALL

 

From our porch’s three seasons venue

The usual autumn views

But Erato prods

What’s new?

Wind rifling our trees

Being neighborly with our colors

The gravity of this situation

Does make me wonder

Is this why we call it “fall?”

 

Up the hill

Sunlight highlights the kill

Tall trees' rotting leaves

Obit

A color blast to remember

The end of October

And early November

 

Many songbirds will disappear

They sensed what looms

And will, as snowbirds do, warm their cheer

 

We do welcome

The hardy juncos

And other up-north visitors

With heated water

And stable food supplies

 

Their winter presence

We celebrate

 

With one caveat

Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

It can be dangerous

Inside our house

 

DRK

10/4/23

 OCTOBER LITANY

October’s winds, blowing in
Another winter

Practice now with leaves
Challenge the snow later

Stir me up and get me out

Snow blower and shovels ready?
    Lord help me prepare
Lawnmower?
    Lord, stow it where?
Paint or caulk?
    Lord, help me prepare
Windows, doors, weather stripping?
    Lord, help me secure
Snow tires?
    Lord, help me prepare

Gutters checked?
    Lord, keep them clear
Plants to bring in
     Lord, they’ll need some care

Windshield scraper, I left where?
    Lord, help me remember
The heated bird bath?
    Lord, it will soon be December
Firewood ordered?
    Lord, help me remember
Hoses put away?
    Lord, I could have done that in September



DRK
5/2/16

 OCTOBER BLIZZARD

Lacy locust leaves
Yellow October blizzard
Expectations swirl

DRK 10/19/15