1980-10-28

Helen is for joy, smiles, love …
that smile that bursts from my stomach
like whiskey on a cold day
and pervades me until I am nothing else.
she brings me this.

We share our stories … the bottom line ones
that are real. Otherwise there is no reason
to speak.

I told her about my cousin, Holly
and I touched the draw strings of my past
in the telling … deep waters.

How little we know even about our pasts,
our families, our memories

She comes for an hour amid the days and weeks
and draws me back to that ground level
where my poetry lives and the words
all stumble blind … my Korean lover.
my deep friend.

10-28-80

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

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