Castles In The Heart

Lil' girl in castle,
Invites papa to dinner
-jungle gym's court feast.

Copyright©2009

Just In Time.

Man runs with daughter,
Rain starts as they come to school
-Tower clock shows nine.

Copyright 2009

NaPoWriMo Poem #28

Brandon
By Edward S. Gault

From the time he was five,
Brandon loved shooting guns.
His grandpa gave him his first set of pistols.
They came with caps and a sheriff’s badge.

He used to play shoot out with his friends.
His backyard was the O.K. Coral
He was the Sheriff, he had the badge
The pistols in theirs holsters
His grandpa gave him when he was five.

Later he would learn to hunt in the family’s fields
With a b.b. gun his grandpa had given him.
He shot coke cans off the fence most of the time.
His friends all joined him,
They were all too old for the O.K. Coral.

When he was fifteen- a young man now,
Too old for O.K. Coral, too good for Coke cans
His grandpa gave him his father’s shotgun
He could just about remember
Those dinners when he was five
-the Christmas he got the pistols.

There was honor coming down to him
Through his father’s shotgun.
He remembered those duck dinners,
-and how the grown ups would all talk
about a place called Saigon.
They talked about that a lot.
A little while later the duck dinners stopped.
He remembered the gun when he saw it.
-and his father cleaning it.
He like the sense of power
his Father’s gun gave him.
The power to decide what lived
-what died.
This is what he did
on the weekends and before school;
and the long summers;
Thanksgiving and winterbreaks,
-when he brought home the ducks.
Then he prepared them
The same way he had seen his father do it
As he listened to the guy on the radio talk about
Saigon and the Viet Cong.
He knew his father would be going back.

Brandon attended University in Baltimore
Joined the R.O.T.C.
He married his sweetheart Marcy.
On the way to their honeymoon in North Conway
Marcy turned the dial
To some station playing the Grateful Dead.
She had heard enough about Baghdad.

She didn’t tell him when he went,
that she was going to have a child.
She wanted him to be able to do
what he knew he had to do.
He stored the gun carefully away,
until he came back.

When he did come back,
and the honors were completed,
A gun salute given,
And they presented her with the flag
-all folded in a triangle.
She put it on the mantle.
One day she would show it to their boy, Ricky.
He would never see the gun.

Copyright©2009

NaPoWriMo Poem #11

Games with Grandpa
By Edward S. Gault

I don’t know when his wife died
I was always told it was long before I was born.
He always seemed so ancient
His skin lined with the years he had lived.
Brown spots mottled his scalp
And blended into what hair he had left.
The important thing was not to be lured
Into thinking he was senile,
That would have been a grave mistake.
For example, in chess,
He would take your King, then your Queen,
Before you knew they were gone.
Game over!
Then he was a checker shark.
He had ways of jumping over all
Our pieces-in one move
In Dominoes we didn’t stand a chance.
The man had a century on us all,
Even after all the Cigars.
That must have been his secret,
The cigars.

Copyright@2009

A Timely Subject

If I had the time,
I'd throw work out the window,
-spend it all with you.

Since you are here now,
And maybe no tomorrow
-we'll go for that walk.


If I could stop time,
I would keep this moment
-pressed in my journal.

For many years now,
I've worked twentyfour/seven
-all alone in room.

Arrived in heaven,
Peter led me to my cloud
-a vast library.

Copyright 2009

One single Impression: If I Had The Time

Now What Was That Title Again?

I saw her before,
She said she was... my daughter?
-then hugged me, crying.

Told my children tales
Of my years coming of age
-almost believe now.

Looking in yearbooks,
A long line of photographs
-where are they all now?

He jumped up on me,
Looking up with those brown eyes
-single memory.

At night you come back,
And we live those times again
-the way we should have.

Copyright 2009

One Single Impression: Fading Memories

Who's in Charge?

Papa follows close,
Little girl skipping down walk
-teaching him to live.

Copyright 2008

Once In A While, A Time For Solitude

Family away,
I have peaceful reflection
-thanksgiving alone.

Copyright 2008

Just Vote!

I closed the curtain,
Switches down, pulled the lever
-thought of my daughter.

Copyright 2008

Counting Blessings

When she comes to me
And ask me to play with her
My answer is yes!
-even if I don't have time,
She may not always be here.

Copyright 2008

A Place To Lay One's Head

Homeless In Park
Photography: Edward S. Gault

Sleeping on the bench,
Thinking of his next bottle
-or his family.

Copyright 2008

Fun And Games

Old men play poker,
Drinking beer and smoke cigars
-talk of grandchildren.

Copyright 2008

Family Time

A little girl plays
Puppets, sitting on the couch
-beside her papa.

Copyright 2008

Flying High

For the Writer's Island Prompt: Flight

Last Flight
by Edward S. Gault


It had to have been around eleven
When my my father came in
And told me that grandpa had died.
He was only sixty-three,
So it didn't seem possible.
The shock disabled my tear ducts.
Images began to come-
The quilt work landscapes I would see
From the window of his little piper plane,
As I helped him to steer it
Over the horizon.
He would not need a plane
To see those things now.
When I came back, I saw the blurred image
Of my white knuckled hands
Pulling at the bed frame.

Copyright 2008

NaPoWriMo Poem #16

For One Single Impression: Doorway

A slightly older one and two new haiku

Closing Time
By Edward S. Gault


My children came out and told me
That you wouldn't take their money.
You told them you were closing.
I can appreciate that you want to get home;
And we did come late.
The streets were confusing and we got lost.
The people that we asked for directions of
Said they didn't know.
(Also they didn't seem to care).
So here we are.
We are leaving very early tomorrow morning.
And it will be a long ride home.
The children don't get to go on these vacations often.
In, fact, this is their first time out of the state.
We waited until they were just the right age.
We had to save a long time for this trip.
So we just wanted them to see it.
It wouldn't take very much time at all;
And it would have meant so much
For them to be able say they had seen this.
Its not like we can come back another day.
When I was their age, my own father brought me here
Your Rangers told the most wonderful stories
They made the history come alive
In a way my own teachers never could.
And my sister and I even got our picture taken
In one of your colonial costumes.
These memories are why we are bringing them now.
So Please mister, won't you let them in, just for a minute.
They'll be right out, I promise!
Just for a minute.

6/29/08-Two Haiku:

They found him sprawled out
On a city park bench, dead
-heaven's doorway.











I remember you
the way you looked walking out
-and I hear the slam.

Copyright 2008

NaPoWriMo Poem #11

The Reprimand
by Edward S. Gault

As Benny and I were putting our bikes away
In that late afternoon,
(thirty...what?..six years ago?)
You came into the garage reprimanding us.
You were very angry.
Your face was contorted-
With blood vessels bulging out from your temples,
I had never seen you so mad.
You were yelling at your son,
But you were looking at me too.
Your eyes told me that you wanted to hit someone
-And you just might.
What ever you said, you were probably right.
All I can say is touche.
But sir, that is all I can remember of you.
That day.
Your face.



Copyright 2008

NaPoWriMo #8

Sandy
By Edward S. Gault

It was my job to collect Sandy
From next door and to walk her
The several blocks to school each morning
And then to meet her at the front desk
Of Brookridge Elementary, and walk her home.
It had been arranged by our mothers
Because Sandy was just stating first grade
And didn’t have the experience,
-and I was older.
We talked about how mean our teachers were
(I did, anyway!)
About Jackie falling off the jungle gym at recess
And breaking her collar bone.
About what we made in Art-
Which in my case usually depicted any one of the creatures
That Id seen on the Creature Feature.
She talked about what a brat her brother Benny was
-how he would cuss and get her in trouble all the time!
Benny and I would hang out together quite a bit
And play Johnny Sokko.
We would always be the Gargoyles-
Sandy and this other kid usually got stuck playing the Unicorns.
This all ended when Brad, from my class,
Agreed to come over and play.
But Sandy would not fit into our plans
-and I still had to walk her home.
Brad was a fast walker.
He didn’t wait up for anybody.
It was important to keep up.
As I was trailing him,
Sandy was trailing behind me-
Yelling at the top of her diaphragm
For me to wait up for her.
And crying.
Brad never would hang out with me again.
Sandy’s family moved away
Somtime later.
I never got a second chance.
And I lost so much more besides.



Copyright 2008

Staying Young

A child plays and laughs,
Old woman stares with contempt
-she was never hugged.

Copyright 2008

A Time To Rest

Papa and small girl
Take a nap as daylight wanes
-clock ticks, yet stillness.


Copyright 2008

Spring's Child

She waves in wide arcs,
Wind lifts wands' purple streamer
-Lasting memory

Copyright 2008