Poet of the Week

I'm happy to report that I was awarded "Poet of the Week" (along with George Moore) on Poetry Superhighway for the week of January 18-24. The award was chosen for the poem, "If This Was A Movie."

IF THIS WAS A MOVIE

I would drift back
onto a slope in Pittsburgh
when my ballerina days
were still a dream
and the kids on the block
found what to do
that had nothing to do
with parents.

Only the bike named Betsy
negotiated for me,
helping me always win
down the hill, the street hill
not the cemetery hill.

All before I cared about any other wanting.

No big questions.
We may as well have been
tomatoes or anything else
alive that grows regardless,
like tomatoes.
What mattered was the bike
–racing–more than jacks
more than tar-baby stop
much more than Monopoly.

If there was thought
it was not deep
or has been forgotten,
slipped back, flickering,

a blurry frame
silver-gray as were those skies
if
this
was
a movie.