November 2023
Sam Barbee
sambarbee@bellsouth.net
Bio Note: I have a new collection, Apertures of Voluptuous Force (2022, Redhawk Publishing), and have three previous poetry collections, including That Rain We Needed (2016, Press 53). I have also served as President of the Winston-Salem Writers, and NC Poetry Society, and am one of the originators of the Poetry In Plain Sight – now in its eleventh year -- a poetry initiative to feature NC poets on broadside posters and display them in NC towns statewide.

i re-hab

stretch the titanium knee.  begin 
today's 1000 steps.  back and forth 
on utilitarian driveway – flat and gray.
my kneecap's plastic keloid 
beams as horizons darken.  

foreboding wind tosses white crepe myrtle. 
blossoms variegate my shoulders.
thunder close, refreshing mist sprinkles.
prods animal me – beyond oxy, and
muscle relaxer.  beyond Covid quarantine.  

the leafy fig tree beside the concrete 
helps more than the dogwood to discover 
new symmetry.  gait-swagger i once knew.  
physical therapy, my lacking passion, 
but more helpful than prayer.  no words 

lend the perpetual recovery i crave –
distress can lead to love.  sundown, i slow 
reaching 900 steps.  my pace softens 
like edges of fig tree's broad green leaves.  
they simmer under an early amber moon.
©2023 Sam Barbee
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