The posts Category Poetry lists my more contemporary poems.

This Poems page contains some of my vintage poems.

the educated sweep

you can tell where i’ve been
by the shine on the floor,
but you don’t want me around anymore.
now i know you can’t weep
for an educated sweep,
yet i love you just like i did before

was a Caltech B.S.
or some grad fellowship
anything till we met in ’69 ?
too soon after that date,
the unemployment rate
found me feeling down and just biding time

a friend’s a cab driver,
another fills her up,
and a third dries them off at the carwash.
they’ve all got that degree,
but now as you can see,
we find ourselves working the common touch

first your dad wasn’t so hot
for the guy at the lot,
and the one at the carwash was too wet.
he really took to me
with my full Ph.D.,
but soured when he heard about my mop

what i am, what i do,
if they’re the same to you,
you better get in touch with your feelings.
our relationship’s grown,
am i really alone
in saying “what you are is all i need” ?

if you sometimes lose sleep
for this educated sweep,
you can find me by remembering this:
(pause)
you can tell where i’ve been
by the shine on the floor,
and i love you just like i did before

Copyright © 1974, 1998 John P. Healy

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park here

now is
to be aware
of:

playing —
summer nights at South Park
where 40 times 1000 watts
stare at the action on 5

being a spectator —
seeing the sky
bluing with white
and tangling with green things

a game together —
tether-tennis with Jayne
(sides or serve)
smiling

holding the about in control —
seesawing on springs,
joined by a kid who just came,
mounted, not a word: delight

the situation of duration —
out from cover,
watching drops spin off a tire,
bumping on pitched cracks, twig-ly streets,
curbs running water over a child’s feet

closing —
the children’s plumbing is silent.
40 have left, and nearby
the lights change, burn, buzz,
advertise to themselves

Copyright © 1994, 1998 John P. Healy