Late Night Footfalls

... each poem posted here is the creation and sole property of Cletis L Stump or Teresa Evangeline unless otherwise indicated ...

[latenightfootfalls]

                              ... the man / drunk with charm and blue eyes / kissed me at the train station

I had to leave on the 6:10

                                                       I tell myself ... I had to ...

                                                                                                        Sharon

[latenightfootfalls]

[latenightfootfalls]

   South Valley // autumn gentle rain                    

                                        neighbor’s tree … umbrella leaves turning yellow / curling  

                                                                                                                                                                   Carm

[latenightfootfalls]

[latenightfootfalls]

[latenightfootfalls]

[latenightfootfalls]

                   It’s like friggin’ winter out, but you should see the stars                                             I have been around long enough to see the stars shift                                                                   New people move into old houses, I still know where they sleep ........

                                                    Notbeck

[latenightfootfalls]

                                  This dawn                    Different than yesterday

                                           Cletis L Stump / Art by Edward Hopper

[latenightfootfalls]

This beautiful poem and photograph are by Louisa. I deeply appreciate the honor of posting her work ... Cletis 

[latenightfootfalls]

I saw this as a series of tweets on Twitter by my friend, Carm.  It shook me … Cletis

    Today I discovered that some people never forget who we were … funny because I’ve never forgotten who I am either. In the midst of that conversation about clothes my eyes caught hers and she asked me … my friend has a daughter who cleaned out her closets … the clothes are all size twelve but I think some of them will fit you …

    I think some of them will fit you … clothes … what fits me isn’t about a number … I’m a size 4 if you must know … lost in the distortion of what I looked like physically is reality because … you see … it’s not just the physical size … it’s the pity … the free advice about what to work on. Clothes … pity … you can fix that … people who love us … it’s hard to be angry about that …

    On the other hand there is no other hand … I am precisely who I have always been … a fully grown woman who has worked so hard to retain some semblance of the girl who relished hanging upside down from the top branch of her grandparents apple tree … arms stretched wide embracing the world … taking the risk …

    Not once did my grandmother ever tell me that I was going to fall but she asked me frequently the following question as I hung suspended … “Does it feel good?” I would smile and she would laugh … shake her head and walk away … this is who I am. It’s who I’ve always been.

    "Does it feel good?“ I smiled and she laughed … I am free … upside down arms wide … apple tree free.

    She has been gone from me these 20 years today.

                                                                                                                       Carm …

[latenightfootfalls]

                         dust /// granddad’s remains ………….. 

                                                                                          Cletis L Stump

[latenightfootfalls]

                                 dawn ... 5/16/2016 

in the kitchen // dog sounds

                                                                    Cletis L Stump

[latenightfootfalls]

                                         … dawn // 5/16/2016

        blue jeans & coffee // no sleep // in my eyes ... clouds

                                                                                                                                            Cletis L Stump

[latenightfootfalls]

I dreamed about locks

keys, too

doors that swing wide

and narrow entrances …

I cannot enter or leave

windows ... windows are always open                                      

                                                                                               Carm ...

[latenightfootfalls]

                                                     ... her father was not kind / her mother afraid

                     ... so she wrapped her little girl heart in daisies

                                                                                  ... took up with a black nose dog who loved her  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Cletis L Stump 

[latenightfootfalls]

                                        ... the man stares at his wife / the tubes that keep her alive

        ... tries to remember that summer ... how she looked in moonlight ... how her body shook

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Cletis L Stump

[latenightfootfalls]