Hold every cell still palm under chin legs and feet balanced. Stay in the trough between cough and ache. Sleep without waking the dragon. Forget how tooth, limb and eye throb and cry for relief. Dream, pray wish this will pass.
GRANDDAUGHTER
She touches me as if I'm rock or tree immune to time and gravity, impervious to woe. The twenty years we’ve left (with luck and grace) invisible to her. In her constant now our cardinal sings the mac ‘n cheese is hot. We walk the stones in her backyard our sacred spot. She will have time enough to seek me in rocks and trees when I’m gone. Today she leans against my jeans and turns me briefly immortal.
PERFECT DAYS
These mornings are it, life’s glory
disguised as just another Spring day.
Sunshine, leaving for work in the soft air -
a bit of traffic, not too much – an easy commute.
The sweetness of it, life here and now -
The no big deal, the simple day, the normalcy.
It’s what I yearn for when life turns cruel
to drive over the bridge into town
to breathe the smell of the river,
to ride down Main Street as cherry trees blossom.
Give me a day like that, I think
one with no special thoughts or agonies,
a day to enjoy my habits with nothing amiss.
Sometimes I walk right by them without noticing,
these perfect days, driving down Main Street.
FLYING FREE
To go in a puff of feathers, a glory of days, Soft as clouds of air Gone – gone – gone. There are worse things, Lying there Suffering in white sheets – tethered to machines’ Endless beeping – intake and outtake monitors - The blue of fluorescent lights pulsing about you. A constant parade of people checking, checking, checking, Reluctant to let you go in case they might save you. ‘For what?’ is the unasked question. ‘For what – please?’ It’s late in the day for golf. Americans fear death like quiet. Both are becoming hard to find. Shop Rite makes me bless my deafness. Feathers and glory It isn’t all bad to explode out of life Rather than wait for some soul to pull the plug or An electrical storm to do what people fear. Please God send a power outage - I’m outta here.
TREE MAN
Squirrels remind me of a man I loved, who with rope and spike mimicked them climbing trees and swinging limb from limb. “They are my brothers” he said. Came home crying one day because he crushed a nest, killed babies, when he felled an oak. I stop to watch a tree man work today. High in the air he swings in chain saw ballet. As I watch him cut,climb leap from limb to limb, my young life returns to me. I see my love without a net fearless and free against the sky.
TREE MAN
Squirrels remind me of a man I loved, who with rope and spike mimicked them climbing trees and swinging limb from limb. “They are my brothers” he said. Came home crying one day because he crushed a nest, killed babies, when he felled an oak. I stop to watch a tree man work today. High in the air he swings in chain saw ballet. As I watch him cut,climb leap from limb to limb, my young life returns to me. I see my love without a net fearless and free against the sky.
INVASIVES
A flattened Cane Toad lies in the street. Its poison can kill a dog. They hunt by the garage at night under the light - run when I come out leap into the garage door with a THUD. Invasive. Poisonous. Not bright. When the temperature drops below 40 in South Florida, iguanas fall from trees like rain. “Don’t touch them” we’re told these colorful creatures are dormant. They advise us to kill them -these visitors from the Jurassic. I cannot. How could they know they’re trespassing? Purple stalks of Lupine carpet Iceland their color pops against green moss. Their beauty out-competes local flowers - poses for photo ops with tourists picnicking by “Keep Off” signs, blankets old lava flows and glacial melts. Visitors stride from ships and planes to seek this island’s treasures - yet urge it to trade silkies for Sea World. Loosestrife blooms each August at riverside in my old town. The mill wheel turns. Art hangs in the stone museum. People come for the small shops and fine buildings but stay for quiet streets overcast by ancient trees. The area booms when the Interstate is finished - corporate folks out-compete farmers. Agway loses to Walmart. Commuters careen past hay wagons on country roads.
