Out of View

From here the fire escape leads
to the third floor, its low ceiling,
a table within reach of the stove,
a sigh of curtains, the minute hand
on the clock clicking at the hum.

There is not a hint of disarray
on the cover of the couch bed.
Table and floor lamps cross
each other's light where the bed unfolds.

Footsteps are a swallow on this floor.
A light is rarely noticed from the street.

There may be a wrap of arms for assurance,
a stare that widens over the rise in roofs,
but nothing of a call or a cry here,

this place of a figure out of view,
just a presence of blood and breath.

Just now, curtains or a shadow moved.

^

Biography

I was born in Buffalo in 1939. I am a retired teacher of Spanish in the Buffalo Public Schools. My wife and I live in Buffalo. Our three sons are adults. We have four grandchildren.

My work has been published throughout the US in such journals as Poet Lore, The Cumberland Poetry Review, Common Ground Review, The Green Hills Literary Lantern, and A Small Pond Magazine.

Now I walk to a nearby library where I work on my manuscripts. I love the walk and the work.