Clayton Medeiros's Shared Poems

If in the beginning was the word
What is lost when the last
Speaker of a language dies
What thoughts are no longer spoken
What truths are no longer possible
What nuance of creation no longer seen
Because its name has disappeared

If I said you were pungent and piquant
Would you be offended
Or could we explore
Some opportunities
Assured of all you are
Of what I am
In endless conversations
With no shoulds

Running through the hills of my imagination
Characters from my aunt and uncles' book shelves
Rafael Sabatini Alexander Dumas
James Fenimore Cooper
Authors I was told
I was too young to read
I would creep down the stairs
Flashlight in hand
Grab a forbidden book
Hard bound and hefty
I was soon transported
To pirate seas and musketeers
The ever resourceful frontiersman
Careful not to fall asleep
So as to return the purloined treasure
To its proper place on the shelf

We chase the dead with words
Scribbled on blank spaces
In journals letters and cards
Spoken to relatives
Otherwise only known
Through holiday updates
Amnesia soon sets in
Among memories
As once clear events fade
There is no one to talk to
There is no one to listen
Photographs with forgotten names
In a carved wooden box
Once precious contents
For sale in a second hand shop

A paisley black butterfly
Visits a sun shaded porch
Provides fluttered greetings
Before resting in pale lime eaves
Accompanied by a bright green gecko
I wonder what they thought
Of our discussion of love and politics
Late bloomers come to love
Appreciative of every instant
Of shared hours and days
Incredulous at our good fortune
Politics on the other hand
More comedic than serious
In this silly candidacy season
Unhinged from sense or morals
In the meantime butterfly and gecko
Bide their time in afternoon shadow