In Memory of Robert W. King
1937-2017
(Bob King was the founder of the Colorado Poet’s Center
and the author of the full-length poetry collections
Old Man Laughing and Some of These Days.)
Some of These Days go by too fast,
But deep down we all know
The days don’t last regardless.
We all miss his voice of course:
The sound of honest sandpaper
Or gravel gurgling
In a rough, riverbed.
He could hold you, spellbound,
At a poetry reading,
Becoming everyone’s
Favorite grandpa in verse.
Thank the muses we still have his poems.
Poems which slide on the mind
Like well-washed jeans,
Loose and tight in all the right places—
Good for pacing the distances
Between hope and hopelessness.
From now on, when the sages ask:
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
I will always think of you, Bob,
And the sound of an Old Man Laughing.
(Originally published in VerseWrights)
