Allan James Cox's Writings
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Poem
Oct.13.2010
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Curb
We, boys mostly,
sat on the curb
in our town
wherever we
met to play
ball in the streets...
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Poem
Oct.06.2010
Auburn
As if you didn't know,hair has powers,can be most beguiling.My sister, seven years older,had the gift in high school.My father, Christian born-again,called it her "crowning glory"-got that, I think,somewhere in the Bible.When the sun shone onher rich brown manelate afternoon, it stunnedwith an auburn glow.My first true love-met when I wasa...
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Poem
Sep.29.2010
Mistake
She made a mistakeand was embarrassedby it.After-thought broughtno immediate relief.It was not so muchshe wronged anotheras herself—I was so sneakyI was _____I was _____Apology a remedyfor sure,a further recognition—an affirming coursethereafter:“What was Idoing there?”Then a finalizingmantra from poetKathleen Raine:I never saw any reasonto regard a...
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Poem
Sep.22.2010
Early
You’re up early on a cold biting dayin a city you don’t know.You have your coat collar tight around your neck,stepping at a pace faster than normal, without a destination,leaning forward into the day.
The street that bends to the right just aheadis lined on one side by apartment buildingsin which well-to-do people live,and have yet to stir,and on the other...
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Poem
Sep.15.2010
September
The sun is up,bright this Monday morning,marking the first full weekof school for most kids.The waning days of summeron the calendar,yet fall has begun . . .I know from thecoolness in my chest.The window washerworks the high-riseacross the street-swinging with arhythm blessedin his precarious chariot.What of meat the startof this new year?I turn to this...
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Poem
Sep.08.2010
Ruts
and reliance-the brief accountof my Aunt Maggie,star citizen of a hamlet inParis, Alabama, 1953.She was the only whitein this rutted road lifebaked six inches deepin summer,mud slop in winter.When I met her,the first and only time,she was planted withher 400 pounds in acanvas director's chairin the front of her two-roomtar paper shack.She had a laugh asbig...
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Poem
Sep.01.2010
Manners
Columbus Park,a public landscape gemof architecture at thefurthest west edgeof Chicago in a sectioncalled Austin, had a wintersled run, beguiling lagoon,nine-hole golf course,and on summerSunday afternoons,a lush green spacetucked awayfor lawn bowling.What an unlikely pictureto me as a young boy,come upon it unexpectedly-the men in white shoesand trousers...
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Poem
Aug.25.2010
Presence
Sometimes, short-haul, I look back
from where I am
and see something inside me
knew where I was going
all the time.
Some sort of compass
I look back on my career-
now a fairly long one-
and see that a statement I made
long ago, and quickly forgot,
about what I wanted to do and be,
is exactly what I do and am
in making of my living....
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Poem
Aug.18.2010
Rescue
Have you everfelt like achick breaking outof its shell?The questionis no referenceto your original birth,rather to your strugglefor freedom since then:How do you spendyourself in resistanceto your very innards?This is you, you know,don’t you, the original you,psychology’s missing piece—out now, trying to dropa line into your own deep river.The awakening—be...
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Poem
Aug.11.2010
Vacating
The time after
a vacation
is different, isn't it?
I ask her, rhetorically.
Whether you go
to tranquil woods
or teeming cities,
coasts or fields,
slopes or valleys,
Ashland drama series
or Paris Air Show . . .
She waits till
I finish my
little recitation
and answers:
Only if you allow
yourself to be
a stranger-
there,
and on
your return.
From Allan Cox...
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About Allan
I am a CEO advisor & poet-blogger. I am author of 10 business books. Recently, I have released two new books: (1) WHOA! Are They Glad You're in Their Lives? June 12, 2012 and (2) The CEO in You July 9, 2012. The latter is a revised, expanded and...
Connections
Causes Allan Cox Supports
Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, Gilda's Club (cancer) Chicago, Martin Marty Center, University of Chicago, Iona Center, Healdsburg, CA (all 401-C-3s...
Allan’s Favorite Books
The Glass Bead Game, Youngblood Hawke, Poetry (Jill Baumgaertner),The Courage to Be, The Heretical Imperative, The Soul of Rumi, Atonement, The Shipping News...
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