WHEN RIGHTS GO WRONG
And what if my right to bear arms
and the arms I choose to bear
threaten you to the degree
you give up your right not to
What if my pursuit of happiness
turns to joyless endless greed
trampling you, and any who
have anything I want or need
What if my right to life and liberty
becomes a license to scan the world
and take away your liberty or life
if I see them as a threat to mine
PATRICIA FISKE HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2013
Another year
and the miracle
of still being here
like coyote, that old trickster
dry-footing it across a mirage
If you’ve ever wanted or needed
something from someone
who couldn’t or wouldn’t give it
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Coyote howls at the moon
believing it to be the sun
withholding its warmth
LAND BREATHING DEEP AFTER RAIN
This is a line that came to me in a dream
I held onto it until the dream was done
like you might with a thought in a car
hoping to remember it when you arrive
at a place with paper and pen
I let is sit for a couple of days
to wait for the gift to unwrap
The last line of a thousand poems
about what brings juice and joy
to my life, and maybe to yours
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You meet me at the airport
after a long away and a long flight
Land breathing deep after rain
Old college buddies gather for a beer
Land breathing deep after rain
Brothers and sisters at the lake
cousins building in the sand
Land breathing deep after rain
AND this is the page for you
to let your juicy joy come through
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Land breathing deep after rain
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Land breathing deep after rain
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Land breathing deep after rain
etc. etc. etc.
SAGRADO FAMILIA
It took Antoni Gaudi to see
that if a tree can be a cathedral
a cathedral can also be a tree
That it still stands is proof
that the branches from its trunks
can hold the canopy of roof
It is trite and true to say
that Gaudi built poetry
and I’d love to build a poem
where one could come and sit
as softly on a hardwood pew
in a place so radiant lit
FINDING GIACOMETTI
It is a high calling to be in trouble
as you travel along the road
creating good Samaritans at every trip and fall
The trick starts out by renting a car
from a small gas station/liquor store
Sketchy directions and a wrong turn
an unmanned toll booth and two tunnels
some workmen suggest the one to the right
a tunnel we thought would surface in England
Not England, but where?
Industrial park on a holiday
one man working in the flowers
directions to get us a little closer
And then, what you don’t find
unless you get this lost
A town with a Giacometti university
and a statue in the circular town square
that might well have been worth
coming all the way to France to see
A young man in a Hummer H3
intersected our Volvo Ninety V
Insensate military might
and a knife at a gun fight
Sad day for Swedish diplomacy
BEARS
(for Mildred on the train)
Up the stubbled cheeks
of the Canadian Rockies
A morning kiss before
they wake to show their teeth
A breath of cold mist
surprising as the surgeon’s slap
Out the window, hills
great Grizzlies deep in sleep
Fir tree fur
warming humps and rumps
WHY THERE’S NO POEM ON THIS PAGE
Six year old William comes in
with his teeth growing back smile
and wants to play chess
I could tell him
that I’m writing a poem
but where’s the poetry in that
SITTING AT THE FEET OF MAYA ANGELOU
Gandhi is gone
Gautama is gone
Jesus and Mohammed so long ground
into true believer’s meat
I wouldn’t know them on the street
And Socrates and Plato would speak in Greek
But, right here and right now
so close we almost touch
I bask and revel
in purest presence
and direct transmission
from this poetic patron saint
Will my life and poems change?
This is a woman
who for years did not speak
because her words could kill a man
and now speaks words that can save him
Will my life and poems change?