The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Tag: San Diego Poet Laureate

  • After Retirement . . . Prompt #592

    After Retirement By Ron Salisbury
    What were you thinking Eunice asked
    as the fireman who had strapped me
    to his back brought me down from
    the eucalyptus on the engine ladder.
    It seem like such a good idea, just
    nail little boards to the tree and keep
    climbing. The canopy of things up there,
    a complete universe, distance like future.
    Thinking was something I usually did.
    Then one day stopped. Idea doesn’t have
    boundaries, besides, I had these little boards
    left over from the fence.

    Note from Marlene: When the prompt is a poem, you can write on the mood or the theme of the poem, a line, or a word. Just Write!

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    Ron Salisbury

    “Since the seventh grade, all I’ve ever wanted to be is a poet. It is a great honor to be chosen as San Diego’s first Poet Laureate. This appointment will empower me to represent the dynamic San Diego I love and promote. It will allow me to teach and encourage poetry to an even higher presence than I already do. I want to give back to the city that adopted me, share my poetry with its people and share San Diego with the world.”

  • The Nyx Café

    By Ron Salisbury
     
    Day stood by our table with her eager smile,
    pad and pen at ready.
     
    “Today we only have two specials,” she said.
    “The first one includes an amuse bouche;
    one hour and a half of good sleep. Upon waking
    you wonder why? Then realize you’re still damp
    from a hot flash. The appetizer is a couple of hours
    when the pillows are too soft, too hard, or both,
    the bed clothes too heavy, cramp in your big toe,
    wondering if you should call the doctor about
    that little pain in your side. Suddenly you realize
    you have been asleep because of the dream you had
    filled with people you absolutely don’t know.
    The main course is filled with noise—traffic, but
    you live on a cul-de-sac, the overhead fan but
    it’s not on, a strange hum from the kitchen,
    the dogs rushing downstairs and you get up
    to check and find them both at their water bowls,
    you might as well see if the doors are locked. Then
    three delightful dreams, three in a row of three
    important things in your life you never finished.
    Dessert is an hour of deep sleep at the end
    to remind you that some people sleep this way
    all the time.”
     
    “Tonight’s second special,” she said, “is much less
    complex, but an intense flavor experience—you just
    can’t sleep. I recommend as a paring, you try
    imagining counting backwards from one hundred,
    the telephone poles wizzing by your imaginary
    ride down a desert road. That thing with sheep
    is totally overrated.  Dessert is also quite simple:
    a parfait filled with the thankfulness that night
    is over.”
     
    “She’s so sweet,” Eunice said, as day left with our order.
    “I’m glad we didn’t get the harpy with a pencil stuck
    in her hairbun.”
     
    Ron Salisbury

    “Since the seventh grade, all I’ve ever wanted to be is a poet,” he said. “It is a great honor to be chosen as San Diego’s first Poet Laureate. This appointment will empower me to represent the dynamic San Diego I love and promote. It will allow me to teach and encourage poetry to an even higher presence than I already do. I want to give back to the city that adopted me, share my poetry with its people and share San Diego with the world.”