Before I die I want to . . .
thus reads the theme of the project
a giant wall in place for All to post
high-minded notions
along the lines of
enlightenment
awakening
destination
inner peace
accomplishment.
One fellow writes
be tried for piracy
leaving no room for doubt
of his intention to live his life
at least with humor if not
wholehearted aplomb.
A morning as still as death
covered in heavy white shroud
lackluster hum of dying crickets
occasional word from the neighbor’s
chickens broken finally by the
persistent song of one fully living
cardinal telling his real story
to whomever will listen hoping
for whatever it is cardinals hope for
if hope is what they do contrary to
what I am told with a shake of the
head, oh no, birds do not have a
thing in them called Hope.
Only humans pursue such folly.
Nearly autumn
home back home again
music drifting through the open window
and what I hope was not another gunshot
in my neighborhood in what once was
my safe little town where I raised three sons
without too much worry, one of whom has
a birthday today a quiet one I’m thinking
because of because and I wish I was there
to bake him a nice little cake crank up
some ice cream sing a merry tune
hold his slim self in my arms on
his own birthday that is today.
She wept there, unexpectedly, a young woman
with a brown dog not hers, helplessly asking
How did you get like this? so openly
so unfiltered so unrehearsed so much a child.
Something had come undone and she
wept, needing to and there it was, something
I’d done or written or put forth setting it loose in her.
And where and to what she’s gone now I’ll never know.
A stranger who passed right through my life within
minutes but whom I will always remember.
Cloud full fall morning
traipsing off somewhere away.
Returning’s a gift.
Thursday the thirteenth
means, okay, nothing
so let’s make something up
make something of it
a portent
a sign of some kind
a happy phrase
a new holiday
Thursday the Thirteenth
The Day of Dreaming
Wishes Come True Day
All’s Well Day
Magic Spell Day
a day of good luck
white cats across the path
walk beneath that ladder
step on a crack and
heal your mother’s back
good fortune and
lucky pennies from heaven
for All.
Miles lies upon his back
upon my bed
front legs tucked in
back ones spread akimbo
a dog’s life if ever there
was one.
Streak of light slowly draws itself
up and up in the morning sky
an airplane gaining height
an odd sight here
no airport nearby.
Where has it come from
where is it going on its
glorious bright path?
Straight up to heaven
full with passengers
whose time has come
whose future now exists
only in the spirit realm
until next time around?
The pilot too I suppose
or do we go sans pilot
on such a journey
express flight
straight up
no navigator needed?
One could guess that yes
for such a destination
we’re free flying
like shooting stars
darting directly up
no looking back.
As a girl my mother wore giant bows in her curly hair
that somehow stood right up on her head.
There she is, in photo after photo, next to my aunt
whose hair was straight and fine, whose head was bowless.
Later came the big extravagant hats with broad brims,
my aunt favoring pillbox hats and small velvet affairs with
little nets that came down over her face. My mother
married my father, but Aunt Marie lived with her parents
and then just my grandmother her whole life
except for a short time she was in nursing school
when all the young women stayed in dormitories.
Once graduated, she seemed happy to return home
happy even to share the one bedroom of the small
apartment she and my grandmother rented
after my grandfather died. One bedroom.
My aunt’s inner life remains a mystery.
Was there really no romance in her, ever?
No longing? Did she truly never pine?
It appears anyway that she did not, a bafflement
to one who longed and pined and wished
and hoped for so many years, frittering away the
full, fertile hours on who when and why not.
This day opens its two arms to reveal
a plump breast upon which to rest
or a gentle push in the direction
of my choice–cheer or gloom.
My choice. Which shall I take?
Well, the obvious is simple enough
so whyever, for God’s sake, do we
ever ever do the other?
Clearly the answer is only
because we are dumb.