Lookiing At Family Portraits Original 09 29 2010 Poem by Lee B. Mack

LOOKIING AT FAMILY PORTRAITS:
Original 09 29 2010


Looking at family portrait albums
Of days long gone children at play
Party revelers growing old never to tire
Looking at ex-wives as beautiful
No stretch of imagination for
Suspension of belief -see that she is
The set decoration –the lighted stage
A beautiful and black woman glare is like
A quintet of four great jazz musicians
And a sideman –a walk-on drummer
Asleep at the end of every measure
She is a memory to wet the dreams
Of rainy dry Augusts -returns the
Roar to rivers from rainy springs
She is a memory in blank stares
At every vamp
And laughter at the chances we dare
To take
But Oh I miss the rivet that held me close
She’s gone leaving me no good humor
She remains a lively portraiture
Children in their play make mothers
Of themselves as if they share their fates
Games are merry and different -she’s
Gone leaving us no good humor -the
Soul will make her boast in lively memories.