Terminology
Senior Citizen
shows respect,
Fogey, Geezer, Bitty,
Not so much.
Consider the big trees,
Long since felled,
Thick barked Douglas Firs,
Ancient Cedars,
Grand oaks and such,
All proud lumber
Of grandfather’s day,
Methinks, yes,
I'll answer to
Old Growth Human.
j
Gone Missing
She had pressed
an autumn leaf
between
pages 578
and 579
of her
college
dictionary,
a reminder she
had visited there
to better understand
the word
nuance.
Years later
a Seattle detective,
hunting for subtle
clues
as to her
whereabouts,
shook out the book
and watched the
leaf flutter to the floor.
"Let's go," he muttered.
"Nothing here.
Musta run off somewheres.”
j
But
Could we but take
The sour from milk,
The stale from bread,
The smell from fish,
Or,
The grease from hamburger,
The core from apple,
The litter from street,
Or,
The hunger from childhood,
The despair from poverty,
The empty from pantry,
Or,
The ache from tooth,
The stiff from knee,
The blind from eye,
Or,
The greed from money,
The less from home,
The privilege from white,
Or,
The overdose from drugs,
The divorce from marriage,
The killing from gun,
Or, for that matter,
The nuclear from bomb,
The insanity from war,
The temporary from life.
Ponder that, friend.
j
Music
And if you should ask,
"Who composes birdsong?"
The answer might be:
The wind we can't see,
Those most akin a tree,
Breakers of the sea,
And, without doubt,
The wild heartbeat of
All who are free.
j
Trespassers
In the spring,
whilst sharing pleasantries
with fences and sheep,
flowers giggle,
knowing all the while
their roots have
tunneled
without permission,
passports or
proper papers
and reached
new opportunities,
undaunted.
j
Ancient Prayer of Trees
Dear Lord,
Most High Creator of
roots
trunks
bark
branches
and
leaves,
grant me but an inch of dirt,
a drop of cooling water,
and the warmth of morning sun.
I promise my shade to all who linger,
to cope with children’s swings,
heart carvings,
(Phil Loves Katie)
hardheaded woodpeckers,
and rickety tree houses.
But
please, please, oh please
forgive me for
bearing silent witness
to
lynchings.
Amen
j
In the Beginning
Before writing
is published,
it is raw rhubarb,
sour to the senses.
Editing
is much easier now
than during the
quill and inkwell days,
But editing is still
more chore than treat.
There will always be a better
word to be found,
a more precise
image,
a sweeter
sound of rhyme.
I suppose God
wishes our
useless appendix
was so easily remedied.
But then, that work
took a mere seven days.
j
Checked Baggage
My question then,
brother immigrant
of Southampton,
were you already a racist
when you stepped aboard the Mayflower
with all your earthly belongings
that chilly September day in 1620,
or did you get infected
much later in Mississippi?
j
Of Comfort
Of comforters there many be:
The Quilt,
The Cat.
The Dog,
And Hat.
The Fire,
The Choir,
The Coffee,
And Tea.
The Stew,
The Loo,
The Pub,
The Pillow.
The Back rub,
And Willow.
The Hug,
The Tree.
But most of all,
The Kiss from thee.
j