I mention you in a question

posed by a journalistic poet,

a man with his own band

and space in a city filled

with endeavour and I believe

that you made me the person

I am today,

a little wary

a bit private

but open one hopes

to the grill and pleasant e-mail

that connects you and I

to where I am now.

 

Without you I know, it meant nothing.

without time in your bosom

nurturing me, even when

I raged against everything

you had in store, I knew

that somehow

given time

I would love you,

I would tread carefully through memories

of talkative brown

of childhood fields

and lazy days on a rival school playground

of my first kiss, of my first serious date

with a girl named Catherine

and to whom I would walked over hot coals

and danced over the sun

to kiss Laura,

this I know was your way of loving me

and I thank you with a hand

upon my shirt covered heart,

and I am glad that I am able

to mention your name.

 

Ian D. Hall 2016