March 2024
Bio Note: I was born in Worcester, Mass., and my first published poem (second grade) was on the local newspaper's Letters to the Editor page, championing a proposed zoo. My theater career brought me to New York City and culminated in a nonfiction book Playing the Audience, which won a Choice award. A returning contributor to Verse-Virtual, I have lately been serving as host for the Hell's Kitchen International Writers at my library branch in Manhattan: walk-ins are always welcome.
The Letter Not to Send
September was the time to see
November, time to telephone
January is the time
To bury under snows
That March might thaw
And April melt
And May return
As more than nothing
Something
Even
Beautiful
Originally published in Red Booth Review, 2016
March
I’ve been having a love affair of sorts
With a pretty but pernicious platinum blonde
That only lets herself be seen in winter
When it stays below the freezing point awhile:
Seduced by the veneer of innocence
And memories of Christmases ago
I’ve eyed her, glistening over the land,
The streets, the roofs, the trees—and, mornings, cars.
But now as spring approaches and more light,
Certain dates march through and make us shiver:
A whisper of drizzle seals in a soupçon of ice,
And trucks spin, heads fall, railings get bumped and bent;
As winter starts to lose, she turns on her conquests.
Watch out, friends, if you've loved her as have I.
Originally published in Pinyon Review (Pinyon Publishing, Montrose, CO), 2020
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