12 Feb 2020: "The Man in the Glass" by Peter Dale Wimbrow

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

He’s the fellow to please – never mind all the rest
For he’s with you, clear to the end
And you’ve passed your most difficult, dangerous test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

29 Nov: "Reflection" by Jimmy Nameles

Beautiful, smart, dark…

It didn't take long to acquirer your bittersweetness.
You stimulated me, and left me sleepless.
Is there a God? Is there a purpose?

Among friends, I played it cool- pretended,
While you played the witness.
You didn’t care about her;
That I always thought of her;
Didn't care I’d’ve left you for her;
If she'd've taken me back.

You knew she wouldn't.

Before after her, I never noticed.
You were always there, always down.
Now I know this.

After a few, I thought there'd be no end.
What we did,
we did as one,
I won.

Reflection, my dear,
By any other name,
You’d be the same:

Beautiful, smart, dark...

28 Nov: "Key to the Highway" by Mark Halliday

Key To The Highway

I remember riding somewhere in a fast car
with my brother and his friend Jack Brooks
and we were listening to Layla & Other Love Songs
by Derek & the Dominos. The night was dark,
dark all along the highway. Jack Brooks was 
a pretty funny guy, and I was delighted
by the comradely interplay between him and my brother,
but I tried not to show it for fear of inhibiting them.
I tried to be reserved and maintain a certain
dignity appropriate to my age, older by four years.
They knew the Dominos album well having played the cassette
many times, and they knew how much they liked it.
As we rode on in the dark I felt the music was,
after all, wonderful, and I said so
with as much dignity as possible. "That's right,"
said my brother. "You're getting smarter," said Jack.
We were listening to "Bell Bottom Blues"
at that moment. Later we were listening to
"Key to the Highway", and I remembered how
my brother said, "Yeah, yeah." And Jack sang
one of the lines in a way that made me laugh.
I am upset by the fact that that night is so absolutely gone.
No, "upset" is too strong. Or is it.
But that night is so obscure—until now
I may not have thought of that ride once
in eight years—and this obscurity troubles me.
Death is going to defeat us all so easily.
Jack Brooks is in Florida, I believe,
and I may never see him again, which is
more or less all right with me; he and my brother
lost touch some years ago. I wonder
where we were going that night. I don't know;
but it seemed as if we had the key to the highway.

—Mark Halliday

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/161.html