Tom J. Mariani Poems

Homer to
Chaucer to
Whitman to
Bukowski et al. to
...

I heard him say,
When asked
What it felt like when love was lost
When depression overcame,
...

Went back this weekend out of town
For a family birthday party
To where I spent
Some of my youth
...

My wife takes most words literally where they fall
She does not understand my poems at all
She tolerates the time I spend with them
'Long as I don't ask her what she thinks of 'em
...

We had been up and down Redwood Creek
For what seemed to me to be all day
Watching my grandfather fish for salmon
We started at the mouth of the river
...

I had a lot of questions
Duriing my first trip
I'd seen picutres
Heard stories
...

Robert Frost is one of the ones
That got me started
When the only poems I would read
Had to be assigned
...

Sitting, sipping, at a table outside
Under an awning in a cold light steady rain
Lets more stuff
Happen in my brain
...

Years ago I opened a special Christmas present.
It was from my uncle, sort of a surprise.
All that was inside was a deck of playing cards.
Maybe he hadn't seen my list or knew my size.
...