AGING GRACEFULLY
We have decided that
we aren’t oldsheimery at all
but absent minded professors
far too caught up on Newtonian
and Russelian physics,
and epigenetic
and brain scan implications in
the present presidential race
to remember to put
the butter back in the fridge
STATUES
There is a St. Francis in our garden
with a squirrel at his marble feet
and a small bird on his shoulder
Under the big oak out front
a stone Buddha holds firm
his mudra calling for discourse
equal balance of give and receive
As a Christian in a Christian land
it would be nice to have a Jesus too
If only we could find one of him
holding a fish and a loaf of bread
in each outstretched unpierced hand
DISSECTING THE FROG OF WAR
And when did the buffalo
driven over the cliff
become the lemming leaping
as if the decision was his own
MUSINGS OF A REFORMED PHILOSOPHER
It is no longer a question
of how many angels on the head of a pin
but how many can he dance with
MARILYN IN THE MOUNTAINS
Sixty years after
the release of the film
returning again to
The River of No Return
Stepping again in a river
that you can’t step in twice
sleeping again in a cabin
by the cabin where you slept
Listening again to the rapids
that run over the same rocks
and still chew at the roots
of the same bent tree
Listening for the whispers
of the words
you went away without saying
The words we are all still waiting to hear
DANTE’S 9TH INNING STRETCH
In life there are errors
errors and regrets
and then there is baseball
The ball off the end of the glove
the errant throw, any errant throw
The running into the other fielder
and the ball dropping between
The not being willing
to run into the other fielder
and the ball dropping between
The not tagging up at third
The easy dribbler down the first base line
and knees that won’t let you bend to pick
The ball that was called a strike
the strike that was called a ball
For Catholics there’s Purgatory
with constant replay of regret
For baseball fans
there’s late October to forever
STEALING FIRE
The thing about love
is that you can light one from another
The reason that the gods
were so punishing to Prometheus
was because he took
the last spark of special that they had
WONDER WOMAN
Lovely as Aphrodite, wise as Athena
Swords and spears
and daggers and darts
tools of penetration
weapons of men
Wonder Woman
with her lasso of truth
takes in the
wounded wielders
disarms and saves
by the gift of embrace
And see
with what joy
they drop their arms
MIRAGES
The thing about mirages
I mean the ones on roads
(the ones on deserts are all about thirst)
The thing about mirages on roads
is that your tires never go flat
and the girl beside you
never moves out from under your arm
THE GIRL FROM AWAY
I was sixteen, it was summer
Hauling wheat to town in the 3 ton Chevy
A quart of store-bought buttermilk
on the seat for the trip back to the ranch
There was a girl, my age and beautiful
visiting in the last house on the left
Sometimes she would be
on the street or in the yard
The truck was new and powerful
I was farm boy healthy, strong
We were hitting on all cylinders
It was warm, the window was open
I was in love, the buttermilk was cold