The day they knew
Was in the 50’s I think, when
On the Sunday drive to
Nowhere families took back then
While gazing out a window
At a Maxfield Parrish sky
I yelled to my father to
Stop the car and he did
Asking ‘What?’
Or maybe ‘Why?’
And at the sight of such obvious beauty
In silhouette against the fading light
I replied: “Look at that tree!”
It was then that they knew
The kind of son their
Second son would be.
Don Sellitti is retired after a thirty-eight year career in research and teaching at a university. His publications number in the fifties, but all are in scientific journals and the closest thing to poetry in them is a well-turned phrase in the Discussion section.
Nonetheless, he admires the way poets can tackle the same unknowns of life that he as, but in a way that’s more fun to read, and that sometimes rhymes.