Dogs lie patiently
watching me for signs that say
Now we will go out.
Author: Kay Foley
Lottery
Money worries over, my pen writes,
when I win the one hundred nineteen
million dollars a number fixed in my brain
that will mean my money worries are over
a party thrown in the house soon
to be fixed up better than new
no way anymore for the rain to creep in
and drip drip drip in yet another new place
the grey cloud of unease replaced
by the cozy knowing that I and we
are warm and dry inside our sturdy home
unassailed by torrents or only sprinkles
of rain that fall and isn’t it funny
how a person contemplating a windfall of
one hundred nineteen million dollars
thinks firstly and lastly of something like
a roof that no longer leaks not
a convertible car
transAtlantic cruise
second home in the south of France
but only the luxurious thing of staying
cozy and dry while looking out the
windows at a romantic thunderstorm?
April Fantasy
A lovely garden tea party with
fairy cakes scones tea sandwiches
hats gloves floaty dresses
dramatic readings from
The Joy of Cooking
humorous passages from Barbara Pym
all the fine and high tea manners
collapsing eventually into gins and tonics
high hilarity reckless and unladylike behavior.
My annual April fantasy.
Littles
Elephants bumble through the jungle
of my sleepy brain elephants and polka dots
my two small nieces one a baby wrapped
up in stars her sister’s head a pouf of curl, eyes agaze.
When my boys were little
I liked to drift into the fancy lands
of books as I read to them
three warm bodies pressed
close as ever close
four blue and two brown eyes
intent on the colorful pictures
their own fierce imaginings
carrying them wherever they went
as the words marched forth.
If
I do not like money and there’s the rub
the reason, I imagine, that I do not have it.
However I do like Things and that includes
of course the things money cannot buy but
also those it can, for example
party dresses and fancy shoes
windows that slide up and down
open and close
doors that shut properly
hats
airline tickets
bottles of champagne
books baubles chocolates in boxes
a roof that never leaks
and oh if I had a bit more money
maybe just one more dog.
Look and Learn
Two squirrels give chase
up and down the black walnut tree
where they were born.
How many generations of squirrels
have nested in that old tree?
I am told that the leaves of certain trees
will turn themselves over in
anticipation of a storm. Why?
And dragonflies live underwater
for five years before surfacing
and being dragonflies, only to fly
and mate for a single summer!
I could spend a lifetime looking
and learning and yet what I’ve
gathered by the time I go could
easily be likened to a single
strand of a dandelion puff
in the grand scheme of things.
And so. How could one ever
be finished with this world?
Or grow tired of it?
I hope I never do.
Charms
If I could whistle up a charm
for us I’d make my mouth
into a small perfect oh
and then fingers crossed
toes firmly planted
eyes closed (for conjuring)
put my whole soul and heart
behind one long breath blown
evenly through that oh
and then you and I
would stand hushed
as the pretty little
goodnesses sprinkled down
all over us like pink sugar
on two happy cupcakes.
Taxes
Sun shoots of a sudden
right into my eye
reminding me of all
that lies beyond the window
out there where birds fly and I
must attend to the very
important matters of
stone leaf creek and flower
leaving behind the trivial
business of money and taxes
for at least one fat hour.
Cottonwood
Cottonwood tree rises twice again
as high as any of the houses
swaying and blowing this morning
its leaves twisting and turning
on their thin nubile stems
this wet spring bluster taking
them to the dance floor
for a twirl.
The Creek
Creek was higher than I’d ever seen
overflowing the trail
eating away its banks
rushing off like a train
to some distant destination
or anywhere really
anywhere at all, no matter
as long as nothing
got in its way.
It is a moody thing
two days ago so still and low
we crossed easily on a string
of a few small rocks.
But now! I half expect
to see houses carried along
boats full of people in lifejackets
crates marked fragile
elephants giraffes zebras
bankers in their suits
on top of wooden desks
cars swiped from the road.
None of this appeared (of
course) and thank God for that.