Edwin was going bald 
in high school.
Don’t ask me to describe him. 
 
Just take my word for it. 
He was not handsome. 
The popular girls
 
didn’t want his cooties. 
When he laughed 
his buck teeth bucked.
 
His thick glasses 
made his eyes look fat.
It’s no surprise 
 
that Edwin 
was a good judge of people.  
His favorite Beatle was George.  
 
He loved the natural world.
He developed his own film.
His hero was Ansel Adams.
 
He laughed easily
& he liked to tell jokes. 
His favorite: the less- 
 
than-a-genius who said, 
I’d give my right arm 
to be ambidextrous. 
 
He became a geologist
& a surveyor.  
He wrote poetry.
 
My favorite: 
the one about
the Senorita 
 
who hat danced
around his heart. 
He did not marry.
                        

I saw myself
up ahead
on top 
of this sand dune
waving to me.
 
Now I’m here
nowhere in sight.
 
I might have known.
 
These footprints
that don’t exist
here where
I am standing
would have been 
the same size
as mine
if they did.
 
It’s strange.
 
I was actually glad
to see myself.
 
I seemed so happy
to be standing here
waving like this.