OWLS TO ATHENS
One does not take coals to Newcastle
or owls to Athens
But it is good to go
with an appreciation of coal and owls
Is is also permitted to leave Newcastle
with a bit of coal in one’s pocket
Or Athens with a small bronze of an owl
And memories of a questioning call
floating across the Agora
to the small cliff restaurant
Where we rest on the long climb down
from all the heights of the Acropolis
IN THE BEGINNING
Small town doctor
tired and out of sorts
resenting a 3:00 am delivery
and snapping at his helping nurse
Stands little in awe of the first born son
come to save the ranch
One wonders if the promise of a poet
would have outweighed
his desire for his bed
TASTES OF CHILDHOOD
When I was two or three
and my mother read to me
When Alice fell down the rabbit hole
I fell down the rabbit hole
Tumbling over and over in the air
the memory is still there
Ribbon candy and real candles on the tree
Christmas chocolates made at home
from a factory recipe someone
slipped to someone on a train
Taste buds still budding
tasting with my whole body
Slowly I’ve forgotten how
only love and fear can do it now
LEARNING FROM GRANDPARENTS
From my Swiss grandfather
who dreamed and grew a prairie Eden
combining Europe and High Brazil
I learned the impossible is possible
From my English grandmother
I learned that niceness is very nice
but you can leave feeling empty
except for cookies and milk
From my father’s mother
and my mother’s father
I learned that early death
is a form of theft
MOON BREATHES TREES
One strong slow breath each month
The moon draws the sap up the tree
When the moon is full
the tree is full
Will you still wonder now
when you feel the pull
WIND AND RAIN
Does wind linger long in the rain
to quench its desert thirst
Or in the day shiver
and hurry to the sunlight
At night does it eagerly
slip through open windows
To join us under echoing roof
and kiss our skins with
moistened lips
RIPE BERRIES
Sometimes when I drink I think
that I could live inside like other people
It looks so warm and so safe
and I want so much to be there
But like a bird flying on ripe berries
I sober up against the pane
UNSPEAKABLE
The chosen people were forbidden
ever to speak the name of God
Which is understandable
when you think of all
the unspeakable things
that are done
All in the name
of God
MAGDALENE
Mary Magdalene lay down
with the sons of men
And knew them as sons of God
There was no sin in Magdalene
for she saw no sin in them
Dearest of all to the carpenter’s son
was the one who could see him most clear
For there was no sin in Magdalene
and she saw no sin in him
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CHURCH TOUR OF EUROPE
Churches along the Rhine look down
in dark and sombre judgement
on the towns below
In Milan the stone itself if full of light
it’s celebration lifting you to God
The forefathers of all French waiters
build Notre Dame to their own glory
But I lit a candle there for Dan
and he got well
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