V E R S E and I M A G E

Surely there’s a baseball diamond there

where you could be the pitcher you were meant to be.

And Marilyn, not Mom, must be on your arm,

sexy as the picture you kept on your shop wall.

There would be beaches with ice cream stands

and real hot dogs with gobs of mustard leaking out.

No bills you can’t pay, no demands you can’t meet . . . .

You’d have your ’55 two-tone Chevy back, bright as new.

Oh, and that odd sense of humor would have those angels

rolling in heavenly aisles at your mangled puns.

There’d be tons of swinging there, and not just chariots:

Benny’s boys and Glen and Tommy too, all playing just for you.

Funny, I never saw you dance but I know you could.

Cut a rug Dad! And those pennies from heaven are all yours too.

Bradley R. Strahan is best known to North Carolina writers and readers as the long time editor and publisher of the poetry journal Visions International. His creative influence, however, spans continents, with a worldwide following for his work since 1976. His publications include several books of poetry and over 500 poems in journals in North America, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, and Korea. He has been anthologized in numerous collections and translated into French, Spanish, Dutch, Serbian, Macedonian, Korean, etc.. He has lectured and read his work in America, Europe and Asia; is a former Fulbright Professor of Poetry & American Culture; taught poetry at Georgetown University; for over 20 years sponsored a series of international poetry readings at Rock Creek Gallery in DC and other venues; and in 2001 replaced John Ashbery as the American poet at the “Literaire Podia Amsterdam” in Holland.

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VISIONS INTERNATIONAL featured at Verse and Image:

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