Michael Pollick Poetry

On the one hand, we have this couple -
So young, so connected,
So grounded.

The balloon they released together
Into the Memphis air
Held two cards in tow,
As it found its way
Between their hands
And the Balloon maker's place.

Now balloons don't think for themselves,
As Einstein and others have shown,
But I'd like to show some respect
For this particular helium holder
With some sort of hidden agenda.
(I'd even like to think it was smiling.)

For two hundred miles later,
On the other hand,
There's this older couple
(Plain country folk, as it were)
So empty, so needful,
So drifting.

One day this here couple
Finds a red balloon
On the back forty,
Two cards still dangling.

One card had the address
Of a church in Memphis,
Where a young couple
Launched a red balloon,
And then had a picnic.

The other card,
I say again,
The other card
Told this drifting
Farmer that somebody
He had abandoned
In his own back forty,
Still loved his sorry hide,
And wanted to talk
Over the fence some more.

This is where the story
Would have ended for us,
If the farmer and his
Suddenly beautiful wife
Hadn't decided to hang up
A little red balloon
On the door of their simple
farmhouse,
And ride into town Sunday.

(Folks who saw them
That day
Thought they looked
Mighty grounded.)

Poet: Michael Pollick