First Edit - Bands

[Wjames]

We are awkward with one another;
thirty years and yet we sit in silence,
the clock’s ticking grows increasingly loud.
Our story a hymn of love and of loss
sung in equal measure.

I like the opening, it's a little awkward but that can sort of serve the contrast I get from the poem.

Our private turns of tragedy,
of sadness and rigid regrets
separate yet bind us, yoked as we are
to this life, and to each other
like dead and green leaves.

Another good stanza expanding on the previous one. I don't feel like the green and dead leaves bit adds much. I would try something like this, but it's your poem:

Our private turns of tragedy,
of rigid sadness and soft regrets
separate yet bind us, yoked as we are
to this life, and to each other.

I rise to gather plates.

The geese are out this morning,
their hoarse honking, tenor tubas
in the marching band. They waddle
clockwise around the lake like so much brass,
wearing matching hats and boots.

Suddenly, as if at sharp lift
of an absent conductor’s baton,
proving they have practiced enough,
they rise up,
flying in perfect formation.

I like the ending a lot as well, but I don't know if the "proving they have practiced enough" line is needed.

Nice contrast between the awkward, static human existence, and the instinctively malleable nature of animals (geese). I like the idea behind this poem, it's different, and made me think. You might want to try and make the first two stanza's a little more awkward, before developing a more natural rhythm in the ending, but I have no real suggestions as to how you could go about doing so (if you even want to).