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
Tag Archives: Family
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
FAMILY TREE
FAMILY TREE
My father took the roots into the ground
And the tree of my mother
began to fall
An oxygen hose tethered her some
a forest of family and friends
slowed the fall
She tore off some leaves
as she fell
SEASONS
SEASONS
My grandfather came to Canada
trailing the civilities of Europe
Planted ten thousand trees
on the bald-assed prairie
Plenty of produce for a family
and acres and acres and acres
of flowers as well
On the other side of a depression
and the rationings of war
every plant like every animal
on my parents’ ranch
had to pay its way
At our house in Austin
we have only flowers
CRAB APPLE LOVE
CRAB APPLE LOVE
You’d be crabby too
if you’d been through
what I’ve been through
Yes, you might be a little crabby too
if all your relatives looked down on you
Sweet Granny Smith with her stem in the air
pretending she’s green as the unmown grass
has a worm hole or two I could tell you about
And there’s just no living with cousin Mac
since that damn computer came out
But enough about them, let’s talk you and me
how I’m so much more than an ornament tree
About how lonely I am, and inviting you in
your teeth in my flesh and your lips on my skin
So if you’re looking for love that’s true to the core
I’m telling you love, you’ll be looking no more
If you’re looking for a love that’s going to stick
I’ve got plenty of pectin to do that old trick
And we can be jammin’ all night and all day
if you’ll bring some sugar, and meet me half way
KATHERINE
KATHERINE
Like Caesar before her
she slipped sideways into life
and then full speed forward
Wonderful combination of
vini vidi vici and coochie coochie coo
Joining a legacy of courage and beauty
Saint Katherine and Hepburn too
They may be mentioned in threes
before she’s through
UNCLE ERNEST
UNCLE ERNEST
If Uncle Ernie
had not gone off to war before I was four
If he had not loved movies, or sat
in that seat in that theatre when on leave
Where the bomb came through the roof
and through the floor
and killed a few
and then blew up
and killed some more
He’d have been here handsome and bright
helping my father with the ranchers load
and telling stories to my delight
Marrying and making me
cousins in the night
REKINDLED
REKINDLED
Babies
bright smiles
that warmed and seared your heart
Long banked
in photo album embers
One
grandchild’s grin
and you’re ablaze again
KENDRA
KENDRA
When the natives of this land
suffered a death such as this
they knew how to grieve
They felt it to the depths of their being
and cut deep into their arms and legs
that they might reach deeper
Today my great friends
I reach and bleed with you
Written for my cousin Kenny and his wife Betty on the tragic loss of their eighteen year old daughter
GRANDFATHER’S PIPE
GRANDFATHER’S PIPE
Long after he had died
I used to smoke my grandfather’s pipe
Not really one of his old pipes
but a knobby meerschaum that I bought
probably because it reminded me of him
the sweetness of his tobacco and his being
Or was it him smoking it and me