were all poems not political.
I would no write no poems of love
were all poems not of love.
I wrote my mother's elegy
before she died
following pioneering surgery
on her open heart.
How is that not of politics?
How is that not of love?
I wrote my father's elegy
before he died
of passing years, one of
the Greatest Generation.
How was that not of politics?
How was that not of love?
I will not pen two elegies
for my brother and my sister
before they die, express
in metaphor their legends
their honor, dignity,
their hearts, and absence.
Before I die, I will not write my own
departure song's lament,
A lifetime serving country,
community, family and poetry.
The wirting is itself a condemnation
Time has taught me to respect --
In their very composition,
these poems are of politics and love.
