2007-2008 NATIONAL SENIOR POET LAUREATE RUNNER UP
DEWELL H. BYRD


DEWELL H. BYRD
is a retired public school administrator from Eureka, California.
NOT EVERY DAY

It isn't every day I think of you.
Some days slip by like worn prayer beads
or like bubbles that glisten in the rain
and roll down the black-top parking lot
outside my office window.
Most days are filled with the music
of the work-dance and just slide by unnoticed.

It isn't every day 1 think of you.
Some days are filled with watching a column
of leaf-cutters or absorbing the drone of bees
that curtsy on red clover blossoms
half-drunk on the nectar of their own gods.
I refuse to remember there was a time
before the ache of empty arms.

It isn't every day I think of you.
Nor do I think you would want me to.

Dewell H. Byrd
Eureka, California

Mr. Byrd was 2004 California Senior Poet Laureate Award winner and 2005 California Runner Up. At his suggestion in 2004, we increased the amount of SPL prizes. Now he has won one of them!