Monday, August 31, 2020

Homage to Mary and Tony Creamer

 Rose Garden, San Jose | Neighborhoods | Visit San Jose


The poet T S Eliot said

If you want to be a poet

you must write every day.


I have known Mary and Tony Creamer

through my daughter Sarah and her

beloved, Ethan Iverson.


On this warm blowsy day we brunched

on the Creamer's patio, brick with

tiny growing "organismes" strutting

in between.


One thing about The Creamers: they do not

strut, they do not show off, they just "be."


Mine was the white plastic plate

rife with cold roasted chicken, cold salmon, skin on, please

hot broiled potatoes sprinkled with spices. Sarah was kind enough

to refill my platter. Twice.


Their cat was smirking dans le living

having caught a mouse for their lord and lady.


And what wondrous new beverage was this they served?

A hot white tea - white tea? Absurd!

Absurd as the flares on the sun which gave us

this glorious day.


From the potpouorri of desserts, I chose

pillow shaped baguettes for dunking, chocolate chip

cookies, for tonguing, and viewed the rest, a gift

from retired Noreen, as I would a Goya.


Shall we go? asked Tony, in his safari hat.

A few of us linked arms and crossed the street

to the Morris Arboretum.


The spongy green grass held us aloft

as Mary explained that a flood from

a southern hurricane terrified the swans.


Be not afraid, oh

Jupiter's Ledas. 


Look, said Mary, how this one

holds her leg above, still afeard.


The Fernery demanded quick hugs from

its inhabitants

The Rose Garden, seemingly untouched

by the deluge, became The Hanging

Gardens of Babylon


We inhaled, we inhaled, we inhaled.

If this is heaven, we are there. 


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