“The poet Bob Kaufman” by Tom Walsh
Each month, the San Francisco Public Library Web site, www.sfpl.org, will feature selected poems reflecting the theme of War and Peace on Our Streets.
To submit a poem or for more information about the project, see our News Release.
September Adult Poet: Tom Walsh
Separated by Words
The color reflected light, wet.
You in a doorway as I cut through the darkness.
Hot coffee and the singing of tires.
You huddled on steps under cardboard.
My hovel with paintings, Hirschman and Holst poetry.
Heat from an iron radiator.
You under the awning. The whites of your eyes red.
Bone chilled you more with the yellow cab reflection.
Frans Kline.
The space between the color.
I stand at the window, flush.
You look up at the window.
Pass it to the back of your eyeballs.
Years of dope and booze kept me from me.
Anger and adroit thinking, spots of blood on the
sidewalk.
Separated by words.
The black light of a rainy morning in San Francisco.
Washing the viscera.
You bundled up soaked.
The 15 bus shakes the building.
The tires sing on the wet street.
by Tom Walsh
