Hiram Larew

Hiram Larew is one of the tallest poets in the greater DC area. Most of his poems are surprisingly short. He won Baltimore's 1999 ARTSCAPE prize for poetry, and for that, recently had his first collection of poems published. He and his size 14 shoes can be reached at hlarew@juno.com.

HOPE

For all the cooks
Who in the early morning
Especially the cold mornings
Turn grills on and get batter ready
For them and
For hillsides
Particularly the ones
That slope up just enough
To bring on panting
But not stopping
For them as well and
For wash cloths
The most helpful being cotton and
Old ones
For all of them
Mostly because they are sleepy
In a rousing sort of way.

KEEP TRYING TO TELL HIM

Pretend for a minute
That you're a duck
In muddy water
And that whatever's teasing your legs
Is starting to make you nervous

Pretend that you're around sixty or seventy
And you're not so sure if you want to know
What's in the message
Even though someone who's skipping
And smiling
Just handed it to you

Pretend that today you'll have the chance
To say whatever's important
Just before something drags the love of your life
Away feet first
Pretend you know by the woodsy smell
Out back
That it's now or never.

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Copyright © 1999. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Duplication of this poetry and/or art without permission of the author/artist is forbidden under copyright law. Please ask permission if you wish to use for non-commercial purposes

Tuesday, July 11, 2000