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Another gem! I love your writing. These lines, just stupendous:

Her fingers trace the surgical
scars as a palmist would
divine my personal history;

62? You are a youngster!

It was a fascinating place. John the Baptist, not Jesus, was the main guy for the villagers, due to the importance of water in their agricultural community. The cross was carved to look like leaves of corn.

Thanks, Frank... I like “fallen” saints and I am removing Indian from Indian village

Thanks, Michael -- I have made some of your suggested revisions.
Kenneth, Siva, Frank - thank you so much for your thoughts...generous...Siva, I can't thank you enough

Traveling In Mexico Our bus pulls into a village. As we step outside the Mayan children rush to adopt me. The children disperse as my pockets empty. I drop my last coins into a basket as we enter the village church. Christ and his fallen saints stand anonymously in the rear of the hall. They are cov...

Many of Trump's male supporters seem to confirm that

Children Tour Monterey Bay Aquarium I dream of waving to my public, a blue diver nosing up to the aquarium's glass with her ruby gloves and neon tank. Slowly, as if she's too cool to be hurried, she cleans the glass with a squeegee, a tiger shark cruising behind her. Two bottlenose dolphins hover ov...

I like this. The last 4 lines are surprising, and effective.

This is a lovely piece, as is....

Good poem...those last 3 stanzas lovely: the way my cats sleep curled, tail to nose of the other so that I can't tell where one ends and the other begins unless they rise, arch their backs and yawn. This must be what love is: The finger reaching down from The Sistine toward Adam; the faint blue arc ...

And living in The Swamp which someone promised to drain.........

Clever

Perhaps what has been lost is the contrast in the two worlds colliding, which you hinted at in v1. So after the Horne stanza, contrast the couple: for example, the girl’s history like Lena’s skin, almost flawless, the guy’s past a rap sheet thicker than the Gospel... or a bookie’s journal... you get...

The never mind and they say don’t work as well as some of the writing in the first version.... maybe replace the 3rd stanza with this from earlier? Seventeen horns and a rhythm section, Lena Horne could almost pass when back-lit. Also, “universe” ... would “world” work better, along with tweaking th...

Thanks, Michael, for the options...best, Bob

Really like this... I like both versions... love this image

It's early and the joint is
quiet as a paid- off cop.

Nitpick: in the last stanza the tense changes from present to past

Ken, Frank — thank you

Love's Arrival Our mothers and grandparents admired this same dusting of stars... I slip my palm into your hand. Somewhere a spaceship from an outer pocket of the universe is speeding towards us with another couple in love. Like us they will face minor problems, too. Maybe their luggage will be lost...

I agree... an excellent subject for a poem, and one that is handled well with gentleness and subtlety.

It’s a good poem, Ken. Just not as powerful as some of your gems.... your bar is set so high

The last line is much better

Thanks, Frank...I like how you have thought this out

Thx for the explanation....Bob

I like this, the reefer odor mixing with the Pomade, and especially the last stanza. My first thought when reading this was that it was a bit too generic, and maybe it is. But it is good. A keeper. What I would also like to see is a second poem that zooms in, immerses me in a specific moment. Instea...