Date:         Sat, 10 May 1997 02:37:30 -0500
From: Mary Louise Ferguson <maryl@VVM.COM>
Subject:      BIO: SUB:  POEM

These lines will serve as my introduction.  I would love your criticisms.
Your banter, please.  Oh, happy day!

Mary Louise Ferguson


LISTEN

How precious,the banter:  the glue
that holds us together.  Greetings
and goodbyes; minutia shared.
Even the casual aside, the perfunctory salute
with meaningless reply, perform
a kind of ritual.  And afterward,
when all have been a long time
gone--voices and faces loved--
their words come back in the emptiness
and they always say what they would have said
if we could reach out and touch again.

(Do I need to add (c)?)