Ghost Town
Napa’s a ghost town now, rich in despair.
We bicker over endless pettiness.
And why? Marissa Amador’s not there.
To like this place indeed I used to dare.
I look around today and it’s a mess.
Napa’s a ghost town! Now, rich in despair,
I shake my helpless fist in haunted air.
The vineyards? They impress me less and less.
And why? Marissa Amador’s not there.
She hauled up stakes and sought another lair.
She’s pitched her tent in Idaho. I guess
Napa’s a ghost town now, rich in despair
And far beyond the region of repair.
Weeds root in psychic gardens – to excess.
And why? Marissa Amador’s not there!
Ulysses had Minerva? I’m aware.
My lack of such a goddess I confess.
Napa’s a ghost town now, rich in despair.
And why? Marissa Amador’s not there.
Happy birthday!
TR
30 September 2022
El vino es comida
Stewardess doesn’t know that wine is food.
I do not need a sandwich, honey pie.
Correction here, I’m sure, would count as rude.
Stewardess doesn’t know that wine is food—
And thus in dire sobriety I’m stewed
Until the next damn cart is passing by.
Stewardess doesn’t know that wine is food?
I do not need a sandwich, honey pie!
–Tom Riley
Great China
“Great China.” This is what the Han called Rome,
A legendary empire built around
A legendary sea. So far from home:
There only is the brightest glory found,
All milked from the mundane. Details astound
That normally would make a toddler yawn,
And images with fictions stand well crowned,
Twice as suggestive as Homeric dawn.
I look across my California lawn
And see a Tuscan vineyard, bound to yield
Memories of the empire that is gone.
Historic debts aren’t easily concealed.
My lunchtime wine is what I wait upon.
Soon I shall toast Great China with the Han.
–Tom Riley
Off the List
I shall be careful what I eat and drink.
That doesn’t mean your blood is off the list.
Into my insecurity I sink.
I shall be careful what I eat and drink.
At slight or vague misgivings I won’t wink.
On standards I’ll ferociously insist.
I shall be careful what I eat and drink.
That doesn’t mean your blood is off the list.
–Tom Riley
Sobering Thought
“Incorruptible bodies like mine
Obey rules that vague legends define—
But I’m still an immortal!”
Vampire said with a chortle.
“The sad part is: I cannot drink wine.”
–Tom Riley