The Friday Poem: Zinfandel Smile

Today's poem will fill every boy's head with thoughts of her.

Here is Benicia Patch poetry maestro Jeff Burkhart's take on this really great poem by Joel Fallon, who with his lovely best gal and wife Carolyn own a great painting of an orange pick up truck:

Last Saturday I went to a gathering at Ronna and Joe Leon's house. All the First Tuesday Poetry Group gathered to honor Ronna's two-year tenure as Benicia's Poet Laureate. There were toasts and tears and lots of interesting characters.

I had a chance to discuss a poem I had gotten from Joel Fallon, (Benicia's first Poet Laureate), called "Zinfandel Smile". Literature in general and poetry in particular are vehicles for expression. I remember the first time I read Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast". Hemingway set out to describe the way an oyster tasted. He wrote that they had a "strong taste of the sea and a faint metallic taste that the cold white wine would wash away." He spoke of "drinking the cold liquid from the shells". He nailed it!

How many poems have set out to describe what it feels like to be in love? To read Joel's words carries us back to the time when the spark of love ignites and hopefully becomes a raging fire that lasts forever.

Zinfandel Smile by Joel Fallon

Birds didn't take voice lessons.
I think she didn't either.
Yet, she sang freely and with such joy
the birds were shamed. 

Falling in love
I watched her sing
with half closed, smoky eyes
brown throat, smiling now,
now - not smiling.

Dark hair in her eyes
dark lashes - long.
Head thrown back,
parted lips

If she smiles her zinfandel smile at me
I will mow her lawn,
muck out her stables and
dig her well --- forever.

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If there’s something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor JB Davis at 707-628-0051 or email him at benicia@patch.com