I’m not a box of chocolates
And I’m not a pond out in the middle
of a lake
Or a rocket shooting off to somewhere
I’m right here right now
And simply put
Paying attention
To what’s against everything I was ever taught—
Even the beauty of fevers
I’m also finding out that there’s nothing shameful
about twice
I’ve always been twice
(So have you)
In the big scheme of things
Most of what has to get done once won’t
Be it hot or cold
Unless something else really catches
So I would like to dedicate this tooth
This rhyme
To everything that catches
In the hopes that my stories such as they are
Will get golder over time.
A POET'S FUNERAL
The boy who was there
Will always be the boy who
was there
He was not there at all but was there
to remember
And was gone as if he had never been there
or about
But was here near the near of tomorrow
Coming nearer to here or then there
He was the boy of tomorrow and
never was there
Or could be about but in all of
tomorrow he was the boy
Who was there and will always be
near as if
Tomorrow was here
So he was tomorrow not always
And he was the boy who
will always be here
Nearer and nearer to there.
Larew's work has appeared in several poetry journals and he has received poetry awards such as the Louisiana Literature Poetry prize. He lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
