April 2007

bio

art by jared barbick

Born in Wytheville, Virginia and raised in Thomasville, North Carolina, tolbert continues to find his way through the maze of life by quietly watching others. Throughout the years he has learned that life is transitional; sometimes the answers change even when the questions remain the same.
After working with numbers for 25 years in the engineering community, he traded his calculator with numbers for a keyboard with words. He has written two books, published in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and is becoming reaquainted with writing poetry and prose.
The father of two daughters, tolbert has been married for twenty-five years.
tolbert0650@yahoo.com

4:03 Train in Belmont

i cup my hands and hold memories of you in the springtime
when tuesday was a season to be ridden
like a smiling horse on the seattle merry-go-round

you sat still while i sketched you with cotton candy
touching it here and there until you laughed out loud
while my fingertips found your pouting lips

you wore a white baseball cap with pink stripes
your hair escaped through the opening
and i snapped a mental photograph of how you stood
when the cool damp air tickled your chin

your eyes journeyed to another time, another place
while tuesday dropped like a mantle onto your shoulders
and the new season arrived on schedule
just like the 4:03 train in belmont

copyright 2006 tolbert