Sea captains like old white-haired lions.

There is a drawer full

under my mother's bed.

Occasionally she will remember,

connect a face

with an appendage.

We, her children,

are not necessarily

ready to be providers

for legends

however acknowledged.

WHEN ELVIS DISCOVERED THE NEW WORLD
 
Colin James
 
 
 
 
 His hairdresser
                                    was ratifying 
a curl that covered 
the Rhode Island shore.
Elvis knew to hold back.
She needed
                                    time.
He walked the forests,
hills and silent copses.
He saw the possibilities
in the
                                    Beaver trade,
and got word to his hairdresser.
He might need her
at any moment.
She arrived
                                    all shook up
but was compliant
and a continent was born.