Poetry from the 3:15 Experiment: This One’s For You, Paul Squires
August 12, 2009 3:15am
for Ginga Paul in AUS where it’s winter
It’s summer inside
and when you wake up in the
middle of the night
and when you get up in the middle of the night
it is easy to be naked
to roam the house
to lie in bed & write
It’s summer outside
and when you look out the window
in the middle of the night
orange lit fog fills the barranca
the power lines crackle & pop
vague outlines float
it looks spooky like Halloween
like it should feel like fall
but we have 6 more weeks of summer.
even if we don’t see
a blue sky during the day
or glittering stars at night
the days are warm enough
for us to walk naked
& that’s all that really matters
that & not having to be anywhere
like school or work
in the morning
written on my mother’s birthday
Paul Squires passed away July 28, 2010, two days before my mom. Both deaths were shocking, sudden, unexpected. August 12, 2010 would have been my mom’s 73 birthday; this Friday, August 19 would have been Paul’s 47. I dedicated my poetry collection middle of the night poems from daughter to mother :: mother to son (en theos press 2010) to Paul and my mother.
To honor Paul’s memory, many of his online friends are gathering at an online bar he started called “The Orchid Room.” It’s an open mic sort of performance space. I invite you to join us there in his memory on his birthday.
For more poetry, ride the Monday Poetry Train. Or check out Paul’s Blog or The Orchid Room. Here’s a link to Paul’s poem Funerary Urn.
