AN OTHER WORD
There’s an other word for color
there’s an other word for creed
there’s an other word for other
in their tastes for Adam’s deed
There’s an other word for circling
all those wagons filled with fear
when the arrows dipped in other
are aimed at you this year
I WAS AFRAID OF THAT
My mother was afraid of everything
She may have been afraid of me
even before I was born
I can almost remember
pulling knees and elbows in
so as not to cause her pain
Afraid even in the womb to whisper
anything she didn’t want to hear
That sort of thing stays with you
Perhaps I should be thankful
for the cliffs I didn’t step off of
too brave and blindly in the night
buy what about the doors
the doors I didn’t open
into rooms filled with light
ELECTION 2004
Politics of fear working like a dream
keeps America from changing horses
in the middle of a scream
DEBBIE OH DEBBIE
Debbie oh Debbie
are you thinking of going away
because no one ever asked you
hard enough to stay
Debbie oh Debbie
were you always so beautiful strong
that no one ever thought to carry you along
Debbie oh Debbie
the brave wolf that still shows it’s throat
and bleeds inside of its coat
Debbie oh Debbie had we but loved
less wisely, but more well
who can tell who can tell
Debbie oh Debbie
are you thinking of going away
because I never asked you hard enough to stay
DRAGONS
Beyond the maps of the ancient world
“There, be dragons”
Beyond the ways of parents and of peers
“There, be dragons”
Beyond the days of preachers and
of teachers
“There, be dragons”
Beyond where you know or
have dared to go
“There, be dragons”
A toe tip, a step, and a stride
Heart, arm and sword,
steeled by the fiery breath
How sweet the dragon’s meat,
and the maiden’s
Another mark on another map
“Here, be dead dragons”
OUT OF THE NEST
(for Carolyn going away to college)
You have the soul of a bird
It’s so joyful, light and fair
and now it’s flying to a world
that the frightened people share
And I pray you safe
when they see you there
Drawing water from mirages
For the flowers
round your castles in the air
ERIK BLOMBERG
“That one might be translated into light and song”
– Erik Blomberg
And yet the fear, the fear
always the fear that we
may loose something
in the translation
THE ARMADILLO
The armadillo lies
in the center of the road
with his feet in the air
The shell on his back
for centuries over used
caused the spine in his neck
to become somewhat fused
So that when he hears
that danger is near
he has to leap and turn
to cover his rear
And if that sound is the front of a car
he leaps into a sudden marriage
of armadillo and undercarriage
So he lays on his back and he waves his feet
a warning to travellers from far and near
about the many dangers of old fear
and our ways of dealing with it
PREMONITION
Carl Walenda used to say
He only felt alive
when walking the high wire
everything else was just waiting
Some rodeo cowboys feel the same way
for eight seconds on a good day
One day in South America
Carl Walenda checked his tie downs
something he never did
He went up on the wire anyway
and he fell
After all those years of butterflies
it’s hard to tell
which is the black one
HEADWIND
Heading west for stampede city
doing two miles a minute through air
with a Chinook pouring over the mountains
and a rising feeling that you’ll never get there
You’re going slower and slower
over the rough wind swept ground
and you don’t want to land in that field
and of course, you don’t dare turn around
The needle and your knees
are all three on empty, knocking
and if you had a car, you’d pull over
get out the old can, and start walking
But you’ve made it, you land, and you park
and you know there’s someone you’ve got to thank
when the boys put thirty two gallons
in a thirty two gallon tank