I missed Anthony's birthday, so I wrote this poem for him to make amends.

Our Friend Anthony Gaudio

Anthony came down from the suburbs
like a Brooklyn girl going out into America
for the first time, all innocence
and experience at once.

Tall and well-trained, Anthony
tries to tell if a fire is hazardous
or should be tolerated.

There isn’t much
that Anthony won’t tolerate,
he is an emotional trucker
who will trip only
when the situation calls
for a trip.

And, with his head way up
there in the stratosphere
above so many of us, Anthony
is a moonshot, when we go up
into space to check things out,
Anthony’s already there,
smiling and planetary-eyed.