Barry Middleton Poems

the trees I watch
have now grown old with me
along the road
that knows my destiny
...

so much we take for granted
friends and lovers
youth and health
...

love is like the mountaintop
a world stretches to the horizon
but matters not at all
...

one step forward and two steps back
that's just the way that it is
I pop the top on my favorite brew
just to find that it's lost its fizz
...

the earth breathes a sigh in the spring
to see what the season will bring
the air hints of blossoms today
the perfume of April and May
...

at the end of the day I pause
and I notice a church bell rings
a bird drifts across the sun
as if every memory has wings
...

far removed in the Everglades
and well off the beaten track
at a bend in a blackwater creek
stands a swamp wizard's lonely shack
...

You still hear the blues at the jook*.
By the way, that word rhymes with book.
Down home people say, we went jookin',
listen up, and then you can go lookin'.
...

we do forget the awkwardness
the letting go of childhood

we do forget the years it takes
...

The old soul cannot escape
the pain that no one sees,

the pang of war and brutal fear
...