In honor of National Poetry Month, a poem from Don’t Be Shy.

(In Memory of Steven C. Clark)

I have seen your face before
among the crowded paths I have crossed.
I close my eyes and hear you calling
from some dark and distant place
where parents float in cocktail prisons
smiling like pickled Cheshire cats.

You were a wonderful flower child
celebrating new found freedom
you made your way into Dream Canyon.
In the Summer of Love you embraced the magic meadow
where barefoot boys and girls sang and danced
and loved into the night.
Their laughter echoed endless possibilities.

There was something in your eyes
or how you snapped your fingers that gave you away.
Possessed by the ancient wisdom,
you made sacrifices to many gods.
A poet willing to risk everything
to find yourself, to fill the big empty,
but you risked too much.
And the divine madness drove you back
to Dream Canyon where there is still a chance
and the ghosts of barefoot boys and girls
sing and dance and love into the night.