Doug McAfee has been an aerospace 
engineer and engineering manager 
for over 32 years for the Boeing Company.  
I live in the Seattle area, attended the 
University of Washington, and the 
University of Puget Sound and am 
probably the only native Puget Sounder 
that does not drink coffee.  I have never 
been published, writing strictly for 
recreation and self-expression.

Mineral Lake 

Mineral Lake:
Then -
Across from a gravel parking lot
Patched with grass and
Flattened Dixie cups
I sat pondering on a log protruding
Into the stillness
Of a small town lake
There were hundreds of summer tadpoles
Swimming swiftly as one
In the sunlit waters below

The asphalt lane on which I came
Rimmed this end of shore
So all could know what is beach
And what is not 

A rough concrete ramp
Extended into the water
Like a tongue from a thirsty road
Lapping at the edges 

Children were waiting furiously,
Their fathers struggling
With boats to launch
And fish to catch 

Now -
Only the fastest tadpoles
Are seasoned, long legged veterans
Sitting on the reedy shore
Never trying to remember me, as I am, them
The children may or may not recall the fish they
May or may not have caught
Like I do, them

It’s been six years of soaking for that cedar log
And it’s only now that I recall
The quiet rippling water and the seemingly distant bustling shore
For when I gazed into the shallows
Of that same small town lake
My thoughts swam around a vision
Of a never forgotten face

 You floated like a wind blown leaf
Upon the water
Just above the silted stones
Just beyond my desperate reach

An Engineer’s Handbook to Unrequited Love

 An Engineer’s Handbook to Unrequited Love
Volume I
It’s a pretty thick volume, I think
Has some heft to it
Lots of pages of rational thought –
Disregarded by that special someone.
Equations oddly written
Oddly, with one side missing
Formulas for living
That never come true
Truth tables
You dare not look at
Maybe even a few poems,
With best practices, standard, drippy metaphors
Trying to explain the irrational
But real

Imagination, creativity – neither a strong point
Of those written words
But there is some fantasy, some yearning denial
Of the, as they say, hard cold facts,
Of the Reality
That she’s not here.

All-star photo

All-star photo:
My son
Waiting for the pitch
Red helmet
Shining in the sun
His warrior heart
Mocking Mendel
So unlike my own

My son
His courage
Unnerves me
With his
Bat raised high
Eyes expectant
Hopes unlimited
Waiting for the pitch
All life’s perils and promises
Wrapped in a hardball
Speeding towards him

Copyright, Doug McAfee..
All rights reserved by author.