Graduation

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Picked up my sons cap and gown
At the campus book store in the college town
The clerk was so thrilled                      
Congratulated me and ask    
Is a masters gown to get down
No a bachelors I said
You should be so proud
Having graduated after all these years

Couldn't spoil her confusion.              
I just went along with her illusion
Told her it took nearly 40 years
Had to work full time and such
The effort was almost too much
But I finally made it
I then put it the trunk
Of my alumni plated Benz
Heading off to my son's graduation

Copyright 2014
Richard L Ratliff

Shower built for two
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Got into the shower to explore.
Come in, please close the door.              
Rubbing together making soapy bubbles
Four hands at work with rapport.
        
Hands chasing bubbles all around
            
Slippery Soapy bubbles washing                    
Backs, shoulders, sides and bottoms
Lubricating warmth is splashing

Hands chasing bubbles all around                    

A downpour of warmth
Washing away the evenings dew                  
Grab the bar, foot on the bench
Legs to wash and more we knew

Hands chasing bubbles all around  

Slipping together face to face
Let me be your wash cloth.    
And you mine, guide me to that place

Rinsing bubbles down the drain

Copyright 2014
Richard L Ratliff

Lunch
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Sky looks like cottage cheese
Spilled on a blue table cloth
Needs some black pepper

Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff

There are days

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There are days I feel
Myself slipping away away
Like a watch running fast
I'm slowing down

A contradiction in time

Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff

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About today

What can I say to you about today
It moves along with slowly rising grace
Leaving all my thoughts of you still in play  
Around and around but still in this place

No matter what other thoughts may arise
You cast a shadow over all others  
They all compete but you are still the prize
That towers above all mental flowers

Come along with me, soar above this fray
Clear your mind and rise, rise as the sun does  
Each and every day without thought this day  
Will be different no matter what was

Each day is always breaking out anew
Aspirations swirling round what you do

Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff

Fathers talking
When did it happen
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I don't know how it happened
Really my friend, I don't know
I had to stop and get diapers

You were just supposed to pick her up
You know, at daycare on the way home

Has it happened to you before?
Perhaps returning from brownies

You too? Were you
Going to softball, or soccer practice?
Playing catch

I know, I know, I was coming
From the junior high fundraiser

Well I'm confused, I was
Saying "easy, easy on the breaks!"

Nice to met you
Be back by eleven

Come guys come on
How did this happen

Only yesterday
I had to pay tuition

So he ask for what?
Her hand, quaint
A tear

Now I'm at the bar
Paying for everyone's drinks

Copyright 2016
Richard L Ratliff

Number  One  reviewing

Bath powder on your *******
That I caressed
You felt like silk

So surprisingly timid was I
Our first time you so gently
Helped lead the way intently.
Did you hide your experience
While letting me seem victorious ?

We parked so many places
We could have used a valet  

Win Schular's was class
But mosquitoes in the Michigan woods,
They made love bites on my ***
No room in the canoe even for that

That house I hitchhiked down to
A warm bed of your softness
Football weekend at a brothers place; times too few
Where your scent lingers after you

Memories are sometimes fleeting
But not your first love
I cried after you.  ........  still needing

After ten years strong and vivid
After two decades still exquisite
After five they begin to fade
Just flashes here and there
A whiff of your scent somewhere
A lingering synaptic flash decayed

Copyright 2013
Richard L Ratliff


Win Schular's is a famous restaurant in Michigan