Monthly Archives: March 2003

THE DAY I SAW THE UFO

THE DAY I SAW THE UFO

I’m sitting
with my back against the tractor tire
eating lunch in the long field by the lake

It flies over
directly South to North
plenty high and far from humanly fast

It is made of a metal that shines out of itself

I rise with a smile
brush the crumbs from my jeans
set my eyes on the furrow
and let out the clutch

EYES OF FRIENDS

EYES OF FRIENDS

While out pursuing life’s dim ends
we often meet the eyes of friends

It’s great to feel that magnet’s pull
the hearts becoming warm and full

There may be time to stop and stare
and many years of love and care

Or maybe silent and by chance
just a brief brief moments glance

It doesn’t really matter much
the contact’s made we feel the touch

Though if we ask of hows and whys
and what’s the magic of those eyes

They do what mirrors can’t quite do
they let you see right through to you

HOME MADE ICE CREAM

HOME MADE ICE CREAM

When I was five we lived on a ranch
still forty miles and forty years
away from electric power

We only got to eat ice cream
when hail lay deep enough on the ground
to be scooped into the old hand mixer

Many a hot evening in August and July
five of us sat on those hard ranch steps
looking out at the Western sky

Watching the black clouds and the grey
building and rolling our way

Silently praying our protestant Hail Marys
four for and Dad against

SHEETS TO THE WIND

SHEETS TO THE WIND

Reminded by Marymae the other day

of Monday’s wash in Tuesday’s wind
and bending sheets to bring them in

It was about just enough starch
and thirty degrees below in March

And about how fingers got cold as hell
but I think it was really about the smell

Yes that was the part she wanted to tell
it was really the freshness of that smell

COWBOY POETRY

COWBOY POETRY

This is not the poetry of pulling calves
in a cold wind and a foot or so of spring snow
with only a vest and a bottle of rye
to keep you dry

This
is the poetry
of that calf that would have died

standing on shaky legs
to drink warm milk
from the cow that would have died