I’m getting good at loving.— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
that means I’ve learned to walk around
the big mud holes
and have the attention span to remember
most of the journey has been a pleasure.
10-13-80
Archive for the ‘Long Beach’ Category
1980-10-13
Monday, October 13th, 19801980-10-20
Monday, October 20th, 1980By their very nature— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
the things we do as we get older
tend to reduce our moment to moment awareness.
More responsibility means more concentration
for longer periods of time.
This, and the apparent ‘quickening’ of time’s passage,
both contribute and reinforce to accelerate us
into states of ever less awareness.
Habits replace awareness in all the day to day things
so that we can think about higher level things…
our jobs…those ever more absorbing maya traps.
As we age we plan, less and less, our attack on life
and we gradually slip more into mindless patterns.
Our reasons for acting become just memories and habits.
I suspect our very physiological aging causes much of this.
Habits feel more and more comfortable as youth’s
restless energies ebb.
10-20-80
1980-10-28
Tuesday, October 28th, 1980Helen is for joy, smiles, love …— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
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