Barry Middleton Poems

where a rainbow starts or ends
nobody really knows
it's born in mist and emptiness
out where a cold wind blows
...

There is no need
to feel the flame
to know
that there is heat.
...

It was a special year, graduation from high school, senior skip day was still in vogue, off to college next fall. Barry Goldwater was running for president. Lyndon Johnson was waging war on poverty.
The other war, Vietnam, and the protests were just heating up. Meet the Beatles was released.
Poll tax was abolished. Mississippi, in shame, was bombing and burning. Muhammad Ali beat Liston.
The first Mustang appeared at the Ford place on the low end of Main Street, it was a red convertible.
...

I wish I could play the piano,
I wish that I lived in Montana,
I wish I could dance,
and owned a big ranch,
...

Growing old is a choice
we need to get right.
That's why I intend
to put up a fight.
...

a broken vow is common grief
I'm here to teach the young
and so prepare the way for them
that love may be undone
...

I am far from home,
far from belief in magic,
from belief in tomorrow.
Foolhardy wishes are vanished.
...

Love went out like satin night
unnoticed in narcotic dreams.
Love left me doped like a black star,
like a pillow made of stone.
...

Death is patient waiting
for this old man
who wanders in the park.
...

The creek in the wood
behind my childhood home
was rich with the entertainment
of questioning.
...