[Ed. With this poem, Sandy Lulay is retiring as Swans' in-house poet. Our heartfelt thanks go to Sandy for sharing her sensitivity and creativity over the past two years.] Ribbons of coffee house smoke Dancing with espresso steam caught me Trying to find the spaces between your words. You sat on a stool, legs wrapped in tight, faded jeans. Your style of singing... it's stringing I heard someone say... Do you ever breathe? My cousin's chatter changed the scene. She'd heard about you from the crowd at school. They say Bob Dylan sings to trees, Sleeps in barns, drinks rain out of broken cups, He's insane, a nut... I wondered how it must feel to sleep in barns. What did it cost to be so free and only seventeen. You were an angel wearing guitar string wings. And on that night, Singing at the Café Espresso, You were the way of summer in Woodstock; A song, a harmonica, a walk down Tinker Street, Tourists, arts and crafts displayed. Still, I recall you as fey, And remember how I hummed off key The tunes you so easily played. And even today I can see in your eyes the distance that defined The same shy part of me. The faded purple circles left behind in our minds Made by the bruises of a thought too deep, The passion to live a dream. I'll always wonder why dreams so easily Escape reality.... but I'm glad you wrote the songs. I think about them when the moon looks up at me From the cream in my coffee... until it's gone. I'm glad you wrote the songs. · · · · · ·
Sandy Lulay, originally from Woodstock, New York, is a resident of Stuart, Florida. Lulay is an "Original Woodstock Girl" who has been writing poetry since age ten. Many of her poems have been published both in Woodstock and Stuart's Sleeping Bear Review. Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Please, feel free to insert a link to this poem on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting the first paragraph or providing a summary. However, please DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work without the expressed written authorization of Swans. This material is copyrighted, © Sandy Lulay 2002. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. |
This Week's Internal Links
More Of The Same - by Gregory Elich
A Fading Vision Of The USA - by Philip Greenspan
2002 Has Been A Grim Year - by Edward S. Herman
And So Goes 2002. . . . - by Milo Clark
Sinking In, Sinking, Then Ascension - by Eli Beckerman
A Case For The Defense - by Aleksandra Priestfield
Whadda Mess - by Michael Stowell
2002: Still Hope For The Future - by Jan Baughman
Reclaim The Dream - by Alma Hromic
If You're Happy And You Know It, Bomb Iraq - by Deck Deckert
A Pivotal Year? - by Gilles d'Aymery
Empty-Handed Women - Poem by Sabina C. Becker
Sandy Lulay on Swans
Poems and Essays published in 2002 | 2001