Creative Expressions/Poetry

Uncle Kenny, Home in Heaven
by David Platzer

Ah Kenny, where are you now?
     Uncle Arthur kept crying this
          in the afternoon following your funeral
Eight years past,
     Uncle Arthur now gone,
          followed by my mother,
               then my father,
Now I ask you too,
     hoping to reach you
          across the dawns and dusks of eternity
No fixed speed anymore
I hear the car horns honking outside
     How do they go on when you are gone?
Yesterday
     out singing on the Place des Vosges,
          I remembered it was your wedding anniversary,
I thought the scenes of your past and ours
     must still be playing in the stars
          like a movie gone out to the suburbs and the DVD machines
                         after its run in the city
Kenny with your curling hair,
     your moustache,
          your kinetic green eyes,
               your constant energy.
Even sitting
     you were never quite still,
          always in movement,
alert,
     talking,
          listening,
               listening most of all
Making others feel that what they had to say
                              mattered
Uncle Kenny,
     you spoke every language,
          those of children, fish, and animals too,
               like a native.
Uncle Kenny,
     where are you now,
          laughing in eternity
               with the Buddhist sages,
                    swapping trade secrets
                         with the other great painters,
                              reminding Shakespeare of his lines,
                                   listening to the arias the angels sing.
Uncle Kenny,
     you who paint the universe now,
          and not only the landscapes of classical times
You are with me
     as I seek to open the unreached 95% of my brain
You are with me
     as I mourn the deaths of my parents and Christmases past
You are with me
     as I read the news of Renata Tebaldi’s passing.
Renata Tebaldi,
     has she sung for you yet and have you both made up your quarrels with Callas?
The stars shine brightly,
     jewels of eternity,
          on yesterday’s winter night
Uncle Kenny, do you fix the teeth of the angels at a discount price?
There is no money in heaven,
     that sad fiction
          which tunes every earthly note wrong
               is gone from the stars.
You are with me
     as I walk the streets alone
          smiling and laughing
               hearing songs in my head
Uncle Kenny,
     where are you now,
          now that you’ve come home to Heaven?

Copyright: David Platzer
December 27, 2004
95 avenue de la République
94300 Vincennes
France
platzerd@yahoo.fr
0033 1 43 743085
0033 6 63 79 71 87

My Mother's Last Moments, by David Platzer
My Father's Vigil, by David Platzer
Uncle Kenny, Home in Heaven, by David Platzer
George Harrison, by David Platzer

return to top
return to poetry main page