A voice that caresses
Explaining ins, outs
The go to for how to
New ideas made solid
Positive strokes
Happy thoughts
Of friends, loves
Giving memories life in
Portraits penciled
Photos and film
Capturing in stillness
And Action, his artist’s
Perspective giving direction
In a patient, gentle sculpting
For canvas, film and screen
Generous to all
Creating snapshots in time
To love forever
I’m sad I didn’t mean more to you
I’m sad I ever thought I did
I’m sad you saw me as a game to be played
I’m sad I am not the wonderful girl you couldn’t live without
You were not respectful of my being
You will not be demonized, so you can get off responsibilities hook
You were perfectly capable of doing that yourself, but
You chose me as unworthy of meriting attention
I am lost in the sadness of having believed you were true
This isn’t about hating you or being jealous
That ego unchecked could not listen to its own incorrectness
The sharpness of the wrongness of you is unbearably distinct
The need to surround yourself with only the fantastic has left me
To scramble for crumbs that brought no relief to this stomach’s pit
You will be fine, You always are
I will move on and be fine too
I will get over thinking you are a complete waste of a soul
Soon my head not caring if you are alive or dead
Always my heart will miss the jagged piece of me you stole
The table flooded in picnic food
Unnecessary to choose wisely
At this meal unified in shared
Genetics, a history of salads,
Modernized now in feta, bulgar
Fusilli pasta, plates holding
Just desserts, tiny fingers
Delicately pudgified holding
Cookies, and rolls that drop
Onto the ground, hesitating
In worry if anyone saw, safety
All around hugging each child
These new cousins for the day
Where is the aunt keeping
Track of the minutes, the collective
Allowed to catapult back into the
Pool giggling, dunking under
The rope tempting the deep end
Hours together joyful, uncles
Playing cards, sisters sharing
Tidbits about people whose
Names familiar but without
Meaning to young ears, bring
Snorts of laughter all around the
Pool’s edge, sadness then having no
Place to rest its desperate head
Now, easy entertainment still
In a deck of cards, a swing
A water tap where bright balloons
Soon discarded for easily filled
Solo cups dumped onto the
Closest target in mischievous giggles
The pool exchanged grudgingly
For a ball field, the audience smaller
Bleachers instead of deck chairs
Pigtailed heads still intent on
Tiny bubbles blown whether from
Yellow, orange or blue bottles
Still a happy song memory of a Rose
Descendants of thirteen
Gathering to share laughs, love
Invisible heart strings revisited
The noticed absence for each
Missing member of this
Group where the finally to arrive
Was always greeted with an
Hooray at last to seal the deal
Those giants of our childhood
Imprinted on grateful hearts
That forever want one more view of
Chocolate chip cookies perfectly
Lined up in a baker’s dozen
Heartbreak has no words, just the silent gasps
Of breath filled efforts, pain that will not lapse
The taking of my hand, leading me to places
Never seen nor ever to see in another’s face
Startled waking, your callous disregard
Coolness of words used so not to afford
Value in feelings assumed to have shared
Mingling at passion’s door, should not have dared
One must choose remnants left there on the ground
Claw not at what could have beens
Pick up memories, twist away, take leave
Journey to the next and never be bound
In singleminded aloneness now free
Toss it away
Forgotten
Until garbage day
When panic
Reminds
Of a desperate
Need for
What was
Written
Within the folds
Of the crumpled
Up list
Of memories
Where
Can it be
Here
Beneath the
Used Kleenex
And ketchup
Soaked napkins
That slide
Across my
Forearm
As I pull
My treasure
From this
Mangled
Heap of slop
And carefully
Attempt
To smooth it
Flat again
Breakfast with Buse 