for Marty Flomen
     RIP 1942-1997

I look to you as older brother
the advice I never had
both focused on wisdom
from different directions
you pinpointing mine
as a biologist who wields his microscope
to isolate a defective cell

Your analysis brings frustration
bewilderment
though positively malleable I am
always tuned in
the call to improve
a sibling bent on future glory
yet not big enough even
to fill big brother's shoes

And you fit the role
so perfectly
dragging me up the golden staircase
one painful step at a time
in evening conversations
of how I'm not ready
to look through microscopes
bruises healed by morning
though far from cured

I play along
listening intently
to carefully aimed words
yet all the while
pinpointing destinations
as an astronomer who pans his telescope
to chart the heavens

Tapping me on shoulder
with microscope
comes a brotherly reminder
to point my telescope
a little closer to the stairs


© 1992

710 hits as of April 2024

07/08/2015

Author's Note: Marty was my first (writing) mentor; articulate, and brutally honest when it came to critiquing others’ work. Quick to dissect a piece for its strengths and weaknesses, giving praise where due, and contempt when necessary, he taught me, albeit painfully at times, how to strive for excellence in whatever I wrote. To this day, everything new I write, as well as older work revised, is done so as if he’s looking over my shoulder. At 55 years, although not old by today’s standards, Marty had three strikes against him, health-wise...asthma, diabetes and a bad heart. As per the latter, after undergoing bypass surgery in 1997, although surviving, he never fully recovered, and passed away not long after.

Posted on 07/08/2015
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti