February 2017
I am an Associate Professor of English at Erie Community College North in Buffalo, N.Y. I have 5 books, 2 chapbooks, and 1 CD of poetry. I am married to Maria Sebastian, a well-known singer/songwriter, and we perform our poetry and music together at many venues in the WNY area. For more information please visit my website: www.perrynicholas.com
Beginnings
We rode a little rough in the beginning.
But things smoothed out. They often do.
Or not, but who are we to straighten out
all the parallels of our pasts
in a week, month, even a year?
Now we are idling, more accepting,
and trust stays with us longer as we
double ourselves around each other,
hands high on chests to accept all kisses.
Acceptance the parking lines of passion.
Show me you want me for what I am,
and what I am not. I know I’ve stalled.
So hard to be open when one has never opened.
Please know this, love, in this tight space:
the beginning has passed—we’ve parked.
Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è Bella)
Overhearing a political argument outside the restaurant
The clip-clopping of horse’s feet
on wet pavement, the boundary
between rain and snow, darkness and light,
squeal of children in the chilly air.
My inner voice louder than the outer world,
so when someone speaks below the window,
it startles—lost in these thoughts,
winter images I’ll try never to forget.
A curtain of snow yields to a forgotten moon.
Remembering an old movie, I whisper la vita è bella
so only you can hear, above the clacking of street signs
and chatter of smoking, drunken Americans.
©2017 Perry S. Nicholas
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