Kurt Philip Behm

Distance & Separation (+1)

There is an emptiness

  between Hemingway’s words

 

A hollow sound

  that slides off the page

 

The space creates distance

  as the Old Man wanted

 

From the reader

  and voyeurs of pain

 

“Distance between himself and the day

   he hauled in that great fish

 

“Distance from that last great battle

   calling out from beyond his reach

 

“Distance from the arena, where the

   horns got close but death got closer

 

“And distance from the many women

   he tried to love and failed”

 

No matter how far he lived afield,

  be it Paris, Havana, or Ketchum

 

In no place was there distance enough

  or where his words could be safe

 

The separation and memory loss

  became deafening and finally too much

 

As he gave in to the distance

   —one last and final time.

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

 

Tasunka Witko

 

The greatest of men

 he bled the truth,

 his wounds for all to share

 

A symbol relived

 a life unspoiled,

 courage all too rare

 

The towering hawk

 the thundering storm,

 hailstones mark the way

 

A moment in time

 a vision embraced

   —his name the children pray

 

(Plane From Detroit: August 21, 2018)