Time for a New One (For CMJ)

2012 Barrett Winner

1st Place Frank DeBoever

My favorite living poet
Has risen from the ashes
To bless me
He always blesses me
That not-so-long-ago-day
We met at the neighborhood pub
(Where I suspect many poems are given birth)
Remains fresh in my heart
Men talking music and poetry
Until we could slur no more

Men do that ya know?
A musician too is he
Together with his lovely bride
Making merry
Causing smiles through pain
Because their music
Like their own souls is generous
But his poetry I look for
As my own yearnings have been
Quelled these days

Who knows of the spirits that crush and why?
Oh I read other works—they soothe me
And I gaze at my own longings
On parchment past
A stop gap of sorts to thwart the drought
But he has risen from the ashes
And his selfless verse
Whispers in my ear
Tis time for a new one