In younger years
I had no clue
how to be friends
with anyone
especially with women

my wife would say
it had to do with
being on the spectrum
but I suspect
I simply didn't make the effort

It's different now
when every friendship
seems so precious
that I'm afraid to lose the few
good friends I have

But Roma says
our friendship is secure
and so I think it's up to me
to keep in touch
now that she's moving
to another city
especially since I'm the needier
or at least the more
enamored of the gifts
that have accompanied our friendship
music, fine cuisine,
good conversation
and by the way
I'm pretty sure this
charming doctor
once saved my life but that's
another story altogether

Steve Berman
October 2nd, 2020

Endgame

Not there yet
but I can see it coming
as more pieces leave the board
knights swapped for bishops
pawns exchanged for pawns
or sacrificed to gain
some small advantage

With the board less cluttered
the options become clearer
though it's easy to miscalculate
and every move carries more weight

Along the way I've lost my queen
more than just once
but this one is my last
and my best hope
and though the ending's
hardly unforseeable
I recognize the only
real opponent
it's someone whom
I've lived with
all my life

poem 45 - The Owl

Ten p.m.
the sound of wings
beating the window
behind my head
I turned to look
Rachel I said
there's an owl
we had been talking
on the phone
long distance

No hesitation on her part
her words
ask what it's bringing
what it wants to take away
I ran out outside
no owl in sight
next morning though
sitting in medition
it was back
not physically this time
there was a place
it wanted me to go

A place a mile
from where I lived
or maybe two
above the beach
hidden by trees
thick underbrush

when I crawled through
on hands and knees
I found myself
looking down a hundred feet
through a great cleft
a rock split down the center
like a cliff
but reaching far
into the earth

I sat there taken
with the power of the place
then in my ear
my uncle's voice
It's uncle Hal
the voice said
all my life
I wanted just
to live on air and now
I am the air and the sea mist
that blows along the shore
and Stephen it's so wonderful
so wonderful !

Steve Berman
October 4, 2020