After 26 years and more,
more years than your life,
I can remember you
with joy exceeding sorrow –
though, as The Prophet suggested,
they’re sides of one coin:
always some tears,
a swift pang.
When your death was recent,
it was anguish to notice young fun –
pinball machines, amusement parks –
you might have enjoyed
if not for a youth in prison,
if not for your final escape.
[Poem #54]
This began as a game some bloggers played in 2008, to write about people who'd made an impact, in the same number of words as one's age, every day for a year. I did them less often and went on longer, adding one word each birthday. I stopped in 2016 and incorporated them into my main poetry blog. In 2019 I resumed the project and gave it its own blog again, with a new name, where it may unfold at its own (slow, intermittent, lapsing and resuming) pace. I've labelled these verse portraits, but they're more like quick sketches: mere glimpses, impressions....
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