Dedicated to Betty Shipley, Poet Laureate 1997

I'm sorry I wasn't there

for your memorial service.

I wasn't sure if I should come.

Most of my memories with you

were brief encountering ones.

I remember only

you and your over-flowing

enthusiasm for

naive younger poets while

boasting to me the similarity

of you brother's features

to George Burns

in thick glasses.

All the other recollections of you,

I've heard them from your protégés.

The real influential, efficacious poets

who previously apprehend

the significance of mortality,

yet question their purpose

reading poems to an audience

that doesn't care to listen.

I only hope they recognize

I'm one of the few

who do wish to comprehend

what they perceive to be

the universe as it expands

in their heads and know

what to put down on paper.

Most of my memories of you

were too brief encountering ones,

yet I'm very thankful for the poets

you've inspired.

Still I'll always be sorry that

I didn't get to know you better.

I too enjoy George Burns.