POETRY BY COLLEEN

Colleen and Cousin's Wife Dorothy, circa 1974

Poems I Once Wrote

Writing

Once upon a noonday bright,

As I sat and tried to write

What had never been written before.

Suddenly there came a tapping;

Twas my fingers gently rapping,

Tapping out the rhythm of the Great American Lore.

"Tis the Muse!" cried I, "From the literary days of yore."

I wrote one chapter, then nothing more.

(February 1992)

The Writer's Life

Write, type, rewrite, submit

Rejection, dejection, aggravation

Rewrite, retype, resubmit

Rejection, depression.

Rip, tear, reorganize;

Start over again.

New idea!

Write, type, rewrite, submit,

Make changes, resubmit.

Wait...wait...wait...

Acceptance!

Wait...wait...wait...

Publication!

Wait...wait...wait...

Check!

(January 26, 1996)

What I Saw

I saw a tiny spider

Crawling in the soot.

Along came a little boy

Who stomped it with his foot.

I saw a robin redbreast

Looking toward the sun.

Along came a bigger boy

Who shot it with his gun.

I saw a little village

With busy kids and moms.

Out came a group of men

Who destroyed it with their bombs.

(August 1968)

When I Look in Your Eyes

Some of us are foolish

And some were born wise.

I only see Beauty

When I look in your eyes.

You may be ugly,

And you may be fat.

But when I look in your eyes

I don't think of that.

When I look in your eyes

A mirror I see,

And in the reflection

I only see me.

I only see me

I only see me

When I look in your eyes

I only see me.

(January 1988)

Minnesota Homesick Blues

Well I lived up North where the cold winds blow

Any my heart grew just as cold as the snow;

So  I went down South tryin' to lose my blues,

But when I got to Nashville, I had the blues there too.

I thought I'd stay there anyway

And see if I could make my guitar play

To feed my famiy and pay my bills

And let me find peace up in those hills.

Chorus

Goin' back to Minnesota

Where the waters are sky blue;

Goin' back, back, back to Minnesota

Where every winter I get the flu.

Well first I got ripped off for three bills,

And I caught a cold and I got the chills.

Then I got in a car accident,

And I couldn't even pay my rent.

Things got better by and by,

But I  couldn't imagine why;

That Southern talk I couldn't understand

And my heart ached for that Northern land.

Chorus

Goin' back to Minnesota

Where the waters are sky blue.

Goin' back, back, back to Minnesota

Where every winter I get the flu.

One day I packed up my '68 Dodge Dart.

Nashville and I were going to part.

I headed north on the Intersate;

I was going home and I couldn't wait.

When I got to Minnesota it was thirty below.

All I could see was blowing snow.

I skidded off the road and cut up my face.

Well, I've heard that Virginia is a mighty fine place.

Chorus

Goin' back to Minnesota

Where the waters are sky blue.

Goin' back, back, back to Minnesota

Where every winter I get the flu.

(October 1974)

Ode to Babysitting

Oh! The terrors of babysitting

Shock me through and through.

It's not at all how they look

But only what they do.

Today they threw their cereal

All over the floor in their room.

I was going to use the vacume cleaner

But they broke it, so I used the broom.

When I returned to the kitchen

To throw away the mess,

I looked around in horror

And said, "Oh my! Oh yuck! Oh ish!"

The video and cassette tapes

Were scattered across the floor.

The peanut butter and jelly

Were smeared all over the door.

One cat was in the refrigerator,

The other was in the oven.

I'm sure the feet of those children

Were definitely pointed and cloven.

I want to put a spell on those kids

To make them nice and good.

Then maybe they'd behave themselves

The way that children should.

Tomorrow I'll find a new job

They will pay me what I'm worth.

I'm only eighteen, but I know for sure

That I will never give birth.

(July 1967)

Just Before the Dawn

Dark is the night that through my windows peek

Just before the dawn.

And I awake reluctantly

Stifling a yawn.

The shrilling of the clock must be stopped

Just before the dawn.

Where's the coffee? Where's the tea?

Where's the Diet Coke?

I was slumbering peacefully

Just before I woke.

Now to work I must go through wind and snow,

Drinking my Diet Coke.

It's still dark outside as I trudge along

Just before the dawn.

The blizzard is raging; the ice is glazing.

All the green grass is gone.

Why must I be out in this cold weather

Just before the dawn?

(January 1983)