Hey Billy!
for Billy CollinsI’ve seen you all over
from my bed, lying on my side
propped up in a lumpy Euclidean triangleyou were in Italy drinking Gin searching
for English and realizing the Now, it tickled
my sleep-filled brainHey Billy!
I sat in my car just before a gig
the dirty street light illuminating a shadow of the corner
architecture, and the nearby gas station
you passed, racing in your car – speed lines --
tracing from you and your laptop
the little girl peaceful in bed
made me see the faint velocity vectors
wiggling from my hands streaking up
from the smile on my face as
I emerged to play the first set
(life took a slow shutter snapshot)Hey Billy!
As I sat in the bathroom, there you were all skull and bones
orthogonal in your study
with your loud type-writer, shuddering a few words
at a time-pace just enough
to slowly undress Emily Dickinson, one layer at a time
through the New England sunlight and old mysterious dustHey Billy!
Hovering over dirty dishes
I smell your orange peels, hyacinths, and cigarette smoke
the morning breeze moves through the kitchen
sneaks past the screen, out
to alter the trajectory
of a single falling leaf
by one distant decimal pointI taste your coffee and donuts
I hear Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
bouncing around in an ordered chaos
a single molecule in a fluffy cloud – taking
all day to define it’s spaceYeah Billy