By: Bruce Mundhenke

Songs of Yesterday

In Nogales we drank tequila,
Sang songs we were meant to forget,
Wandered the streets all night
Till the roosters crowed,
Then crossed the border and slept.
In the daytime we showered in truck stops,
Slept on Mount Lemon at night,
Drank beer and smoked pot with local girls,
Spoke of pipe dreams that would not come to light.
Going home,
We stopped in New Mexico,
From a cliff we howled at the moon,
Drank wine until we were crazy,
Stayed there and slept until noon.
Those days are long behind us,
Now they seem almost a dream,
The music sounds so much different today,
But the songs are much the same.

###

Remember

Remember lying on the earth,
Looking up at the stars in the sky,
Amazed at the wonder of it all,
Thrilled to be alive…
Questioning the meaning
Of the light that filled your eyes,
Wondering if other worlds were out there,
Somewhere in the night,
Talking until the stars disappeared
About countless wonders untold,
Believing we had eternity
To watch it all unfold.

###

Gail is Gone

Gail is gone.
I heard about it
Just the other day.
No more ball and jacks,
No more Barbie dolls,
No more jumping ropes,
No more Beatles records
Stacked to play.
Nothing else I’ll ever hear her say…
I saw her brother just today,
I’m sorry Gail is gone,
It’s all that I could say.

###

Bruce Mundhenke has worked as a laborer, a registered nurse on a psychiatric unit, a med-surg unit, and at a nursing home. He enjoys nature and reading and writing poetry. He lives in Illinois with his wife and their dog and cat.