Two Poems by Barry Rynk

Flowers for Peg written ‘In Synergy’ with “Farm Workers Today” by Ed Barguiarena

I pick flowers for Peg under the Hollywood sign,
the day after the deluge… The dust and
dirt of LA washed from the
stolid icon.

I pick flowers for Peg where angels sprinkle the
seeds of forgiveness every spring:
Violets and Humboldt lilies,
Golden Stars.

I pick flowers for Peg as she makes her way
slowly up along the switchbacks and
chaparral on that sorrowful
day in 1932.

I pick flowers for Peg where the curtain fell—
too soon—too hard—too fast. Then,
handing her my bouquet as she
glides past,

this time…
this time… she almost smiles.

(In memory of Millicent Lilian “Peg” Entwistle, Feb. 5, 1908 – Sept 16, 1932)

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Grass Gone To Seed written ‘In Synergy’ with “Rise Above” by Jeff Muzerolle

In dreams, I wade into wide open fields with grass all gone to seed.
Tall grass, waist-high, with golden spikelets. A million tiny
hands waving at the sky.

Soft hands, with velvet fingers, brushing past. Free—like me—if I
allow myself to be free. “When,” I ask, “will I stop calling them
weeds?” When will I finally see?

We call the tall grasses “weeds” here in suburbia—keep ’em cut
down low… Lawns as sharp as military crew-cuts, all neat and
clean. The regular, rectangular lines.

O how I miss the wide open fields that seem to stretch on forever!
With tall grass undulating in a slow dance under an ocean of air.
A lost and wild purple majesty.

“Haven’t we come far?” I ask. “It seems far.” I ponder, through
evolution and revolution. If only we could slow down, stop for a
moment—recall our own childhoods.

Memories, so magical, of laying beneath their gaze on a sunny
afternoon, staring up at summer blue.
When will I finally see them?

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