KK
         Unmoved by her candor, passion or maturity
         my melancholy carried me thru
         How, I wonder, can I share myself with another
         when I’m so torn and confused and thin now…
         jaded and pensive I said ‘yes’ to her
         and showed myself once again
         I’m empty … not much more left to share
         Rose’s pain, has filled me up and emptied me
         She’s gone, and all these others talk in vain
         My confusion is so deep, my emptiness so wide
         that my lover’s smiles can’t find me inside.
                              gallagher
                              05-18-78
                              Long Beach

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                           Oz
      Poetic lady … Kansas and Oz …
      two reflections of the same thing
      in our eyes … changing life.
      That you can sometimes change
      from one to the other
      what does it matter …
      stand still and they will both blow by
      I’m a little bitter or melancholy, perhaps
      I’ve been pressing the Oz out of life so long now
      that all I hear are the lonely rumblings
      of my emotional freight trains running thru the nights
      some coming … some going.
      Their whistles scream “Oz” … “Oz”
      their journeys always end in Kansas
      Not too long ago
      I thought I was better than conventional love
      and I left the fireside to run for the trains, repeatedly
      but now I doubt that I was up to it … love …
      trains always drop you in Kansas
      and Kansas ain’t much without firesides.
                           Gallagher
                           Long Beach thinking about Kathi K.
                           05-23-78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

           Easy now life…don’t take me too hard
              I can’t stand to walk so suddenly
           into the endless views of nothing
              but the results of what my deeds may be.
           It seems you’re swapping now…day by day
              coming on stronger with pain and pleasure….
           Kathi calls it Kansas and Oz
              but it just worries me…with no place to fall.
           Rose’s name has blown away in the wind
              and these others like shadows come and go.
           Oz today…Kansas tomorrow.
           I feel the flow coming down on me,
              my life is hard a-press
           and I’m distilled out to where
              dreams and reality have come head to head.
           Hear me, life…don’t walk so hard.
              I want to love you gently…
                  without bitterness or tears.
                              gallagher
                              23 may 78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

   I been to Kansas and I’ve seen the wind blow
   And I’ve seen the weary eyed people, smiling, pack up and go
   bound for Oz … ever Eastward easy dream …
   That they can leave the Kansas dust behind them
   is easy … so it seems
   But I’ve found the days wait relentless here
   I’ve come back too many times …
   to the morning after empty days
   with the wine and passion burned out.
   We can go to Oz together and hide from that Kansas wind
   but when we return its always alone
   To the state we left our life in.
                           gallagher
                           Long Beach – Kathi K.
                           05-24-78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                        Kathi K.
      Confusion’s growing, just where my senses said …
      Her feelings, her children, her husband, her law school,
      her passion, her family, herself, and me.
      The lack of conscious choice leads us
      and our honesty into ever narrower passages
      I truly care for her and, if she were free, I would love her;
      her mind, her passion, her company are excellent …
      but so much reality … so many lives … many she loves
      and all of whom need her love … stand in the way.
      And she … she just wants to let it happen ‘naturally…’
      She’s honest and naive in such proportions I cannot grasp her.
      I feel it all short lived … too finely balanced …
         if she continues in a hurry.
      Her problems are much more complex than mine ever were
         and her approach less cautious
      My eyes get bigger as we continue … and I hold myself
      for once she told me I judged her too soon … far too soon.
      Events are running … time’s running … she’s moving
      school’s starting … Nichol’s ending …
      and now she wants to go to Colorado with me
      and she tells Chuck after Chuck’s displayed jealousy towards me
      and she wants to mix Amy and Danny when Danny knows
      she’s a girlfriend of mine … Lord!…
      And she talks good philosophy
      and has passion as good as I’ve seen
      and she’s easy to be with and likes me
      Lord … look out world … just look out world.
                           gallagher
                           Long Beach – about Kathi K.
                           05-30-78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                     Taking Ron’s truck home
         Capture these days
            The desert sun and the indian miles
         Durango, Flagstaff … the San Luis Valley
         All the hours Kathi and I talked and made love
         The evenings there in other cities
         The day we bussed across southern Colorado
            and walked thru Colorado Springs
         and, finally, the flight from Denver
            and the rocky mountain’s massive lines
         Ron and Sally’s trailer, Kathi and I, and they
            the easy friendship and how, smoking grass,
               I saw Kathi’s spirit shine so clearly
         Hugh Prather’s book, we read …
         across the Arizona desert
            in the Durango motel
               and in the Trailways bus
                  oblivious to those around us
         Dinners and smiles in Flagstaff
            making love driving … and atop Wolf Creek pass
         Sunshine hours and days pressed, living,
            between the beginning and end of our journey
         Here on the ground again, with Colorado just four hours old
            it all seems forever distant
         But here the impress of Kathi’s spirit remains
            with its honesty and passion and intelligence
               and, most of all, with its free standing love.
                        gallagher
                        Long Beach – about Kathi K. & I going to
                                     Colorado
                        06-13-78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                        KK and Colorado
         What changed with her in the mountains?
         her spirit and candor spoke straight to me
         until I could resist no more
         and now her eyes mean something to me.
         How strange … does love create its own reflection?
         no matter, its right … I miss her love.
         How could I not love this woman?
         Strong and open, intelligence and thoughtful,
         loving and needing love, independent and fair,
         she’s a wonder of a human being ….
         The more I see into her … the more I see
         every question squarely dealt with and answered
         every emotion lived … not hidden ….
         But I suppose, most of all, its her love,
         her love that she gives so freely,
         that I need most and least understand.
         I hope she doesn’t find me lacking
            as she dances her heart into mine.
                           gallagher
                           Long Beach – about Kathi K.
                           06-14-78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —