elliot avenue

i haven’t driven
this street
in four years

last time
i came
searching for an address
of a guy selling an oldsmobile
and while slowing to check house numbers
near the corner
a lovely young and lithe girl
of 17 or 18 breezed by
on roller blades
she smiled to me as she
casually passed

i, of course, returned the smile

and for that brief moment
all problems
and mid-life worries
evaporated into big blue

it’s been four years
and though i couldn’t tell you
which of these houses
belonged to the guy i bought the olds from
when i turned that same corner
her smile opened again
as wide and vivid
as that sunny day

i’m certain she has gone off to college or
perhaps even graduated and
is pouring herself
full throttle into adult land

yet her dark demure eyes
and girlish glow
have somehow endured from beneath
snaking folds of gray tissue
and memory lapses
to forever fleetingly fill
the hollow of this day

     Between working at various vocations in Niagara Falls, New York including baker, sales manager, cheese packer, and printer, I've placed poems with numerous litmags, ezines, anthologies, and broadsheets. I co-founded Slipstream Magazine and Press in 1980 and have been a co-editor ever since.
     Lately, I have discovered that more and more of my hair appears to collect around the shower drain. Not a good omen.

other online publications:

Disquieting Muses:
• http://www.disquietingmuses.com/May00/sicoli1.html
• http://www.disquietingmuses.com/May00/sicoli2.html
Thunder Sandwich:
• http://www.thundersandwich.com/ts12/sicoli.html
Stirring:
• http://sundress.net/stirring/archives/v2e1/sicolid.htm