LAYING DOWN TOOLS
All’s hammers now
finer tools
one by one laid by
and every day
more nails
half hit and bent
and every blow
that much farther
from the mark
Monthly Archives: October 2010
LONGING FOR FAMILY
LONGING FOR FAMILY
I was an only child
the second of five
We were often in
the same house
sometimes attended
the same schools
churches too
and are searching
for each other still
THE STROKE
THE STROKE
I lost my father
when he was sixty one
He wasn’t exactly lost
I knew where he was
but he didn’t
Six weeks in a coma
some parts he sent ahead
and some came back
The great Swiss-German
precision driven
driven precision
mind stopped ticking
True the right artistic side
the one he’d put away
the one that mostly died
when his mother died
at eight came out to play
Whatever we hadn’t resolved
and there was plenty
stayed that way
but art is no small
thing either
TEN GENERATIONS OF BUTTERFLIES
TEN GENERATIONS OF BUTTERFLIES
or BACK TO THE GARDEN
It is mid November
and there are Monarchs
everywhere
at our new Texas home
It takes five generations
each way for them to get
from Mexico to Canada
and back
(Stan said so, and he
would know)
About sixty years ago
we lived for a year or two
at my grandfather’s farm
He had a garden
A Canadian national treasure
(The newspapers all said so)
Ten thousand trees planted
on the bald-assed prairie
rich with fruit and flowers
no one else would even test
that far north and west
I watch generation nine or ten
lightly and unerringly
almost home again
and feel his DNA
happily spinning
in every cell
THE SPIRIT
THE SPIRIT
In Haiti this week
there is weeping and wailing
weeping and wailing
and dancing in the street
Dancing in the street?
Not something you’d
expect to see
so soon after disaster
New Orleans maybe
if it wasn’t for all
that water
TIMMY’S DOWN THE WELL
TIMMY’S DOWN THE WELL
Timmy’s down the well
or in the words of Lassie
woof woof woof arf arf woof
Timmy’s down the well
Lay down your tools
set aside your quarrels
everyone come running
Timmy’s down the well
There’s nothing like
a big bellied Biafran baby
to open hearts and wallets
Nothing like a crooked smile
to get us on The Passion train
It’s happening again in Haiti
the smallest with the least
are calling to our largest best
Sometimes it takes a child
to raise a village
NARCISSUS IN THE WEST
NARCISSUS IN THE WEST
Of course the view
is all about you
The loneliness
of panoramic plains
the big-small making mountains
It’s still a mirror
it’s still a mirror
even if you’re looking through
THE BADGER
THE BADGER
Observe the badger
creature of the earth
See how she moves
with the grace and ferocity
of tectonic plates
Observe the badger
but do not try to pet
her soft earth softness
Do not let your hand
get caught
between the plates
PUERTO MORELOS DAWN
PUERTO MORELOS DAWN
Little wooden boats
lap dancing with the shore
CAN’T WE ALL GET ALONG
CAN’T WE ALL GET ALONG
In the Yucatan
there are little bees
who long ago
gave up stinging
Their honey
is exceedingly sweet