FIELD OF VISION
Paranoid farmer
deep in the gold of a sunflower field
morning and evening aware that he is being watched
Narcissist son by his side basking in the glow
Category: Relationships
WHAT YOU MISSED BY NOT GOING TO A ONE ROOM SCHOOL
WHAT YOU MISSED BY NOT GOING
TO A ONE ROOM SCHOOL
Your dad’s initials
jackknifed deep in a desk now yours
The worst teacher in the world
all day every long day for three years
The best teacher in the world
all day every short day for the next one
Watching other kids get the strap
being watched by them when you got it
Beating the big kids in the spelling bee
taking a beating at recess for your trouble
Melting crayons on the tin protector
three feet from the coal stove burn
Home-grown tomatoes sogging
through home-baked bread
Clapping blackboard brushes
upwind of the cough-filled cloud
Green Dust-Bane and a barn broom
pushed across an oiled wood floor
All your enemies, all your friends
no more than twenty feet away
CAN’T TAKE THE FARM OUT OF THE BOY
CAN’T TAKE THE FARM OUT OF THE BOY
What I learned
of poetry from my father
is that the tractor sings
at just this RPM
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS FOR GRINGOS
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS FOR GRINGOS
Refused a feast
on but one day a year
they nibble at our every hour
UNO MAS PORA LOS MUERTOS
UNO MAS PORA LOS MUERTOS
Though
the tears of the dead
be without salt
It is
likely more kind
to remember to act
in ways that bring them joy
OTHER STUFF WE KNOW BUT DON’T UNDERSTAND
OTHER STUFF WE KNOW BUT DON’T UNDERSTAND
If a particle becomes
a wave by observation
what of love
and what it animates
in the beheld and the beholder
MOONDUST IN THE FOOTPRINTS
MOONDUST IN THE FOOTPRINTS
for Jane on our fiftieth anniversary
Almost fifty years ago
Armstrong landed on the moon
He isn’t there now
but we celebrate it yet
And since
the past is not the past
but in the moment we remember
I remember
you and us
I remember
Copper Left Her Laugh
COPPER LEFT HER LAUGH
Copper Love
her answering machine
It is in
the hearts
of a thousand friends
as she laughs at death, or with it
LIGHT SHINING ON COPPER
LIGHT SHINING ON COPPER
I can mostly buy
the whole spiritual thing
that she is neither dead nor gone
or at a perfect time
and to a perfect place
But there is
this hole in a hug
where she used to fit
In memory of Copper Love 1947 – 2017
www.copperlove.com
PRECIOUS METALS
PRECIOUS METALS
(for Copper Love)
You can keep your gold and silver
that divide the world in war
It is copper that connects
Cold crowns of kings and queens
behind the glass beyond the touch
copper is the human metal
it is copper that conducts
Greed and hate abide in gold
in copper there is only love
it is copper that conducts
it is copper that connects
In memory of Copper Love 1947 – 2017
www.copperlove.com