First Monday Open Mic Night at Kind Origin Dispensary remains popular and successful.

Working titles for this poem include Song, America, Light as a Leaf, and Song for America. The last one is the title of a Kansas song I really like.

by Richard R. Barron

Do you have a favorite song?
A Farewell to Kings?
Doing the Unstuck?
Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo?

Is there something
That can roll past your ears
Into your eyes?
Make you cry?

I listen
Close my eyes
Feel the breeze
Smell the grass

Maybe Ten Years Gone?
Maybe Scarecrow’s Dream?
Maybe Laudate Dominum ?
Maybe Wish You Were Here?

I listen to Photographs and Memories
The City on the Black Sea
A Silo Lullaby
A Fool’s Overture

Still more songs shuffle past
I’m Deranged
Tin Man
Something I Can Never Have

Then
Light as a leaf
The song I want and need
America

The music and the lyrics
Wow
I’ve been listening to this song
Since I was 15

It’s not about me
But it is
I’m not there
But I am

After all these years
Almost tears
Young Richard
And old Richard

“Kathy, I’m lost”
He sings
And I can picture Kathy
And I am lost

 

Salty

by Jamie Pittman

I found a hummingbird in the grill of my car. Do you want it?
Yes! I exclaimed excitedly
A tiny skeleton to add to my collection I thought.
Okay, I will bag it for you.
We shared our goings on, pondering and feelings about life.
Bidding farewell, oh wait, wait put salt in the bag it will persevere the little guy until I can pick it up.
Weeks go by and life unfolds, moments of daily life work and relaxation
A visit to bid farewell, a large and lovely friend, a beast I called a muppet and spoiled with an Oklahoma delight.
A life coming to a close, a grace of mercy on the edge of sorrow.
A lingering hug capping a visit of shared food and good conversation.
What else? Salty, I need to take Salty home.
Yes, retrieves a perfectly persevered humming bird.
Hauntingly beautiful is death