Learning
Like an infection, like a
wound—
Through this I will
heal, through this I will
learn—
From the action of the second continental Congress, 1776, the anonymous Declaration of Independence signed by all 13 colonies:
These Truths
These Truths, be self-evident
All are created equal
Endowed with unalienable rights
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Whenever government becomes destructive
To secure these rights
From the consent of the governed
It is the right of the people
To alter or abolish it
Therefore, in the course of human events
It becomes necessary
To dissolve political bands
Assume the laws of nature
Respect the opinions of mankind
Declare the causes
Which impel them to separate
Under despotism
Their right, their duty
Off such government
Provide for their future
Security, Safety, and Happines
My editor called to tell me he’d finished the first pass.
The relief reverberated through the phone.
Like the instant he realized he would never see it again.
“I marked it up”
“I sent comments”
“Let me know if it helps “
He took six months and every time I thought about it,
how the title changed a dozen times,
and the filler poems I included,
all part of another idea that got soaked up in the book
then squeezed out like wringing a dish towel,
its blue forget-me-not pattern stained purple by words
I’d strung together and hung on the front porch at Christmas.
“Thanks for reading”
“I can’t wait”
“What did you think”
And the screen had no more texts.
no blinking dot marks that he was typing,
and I knew, I just knew,
the next draft would be completely different.
It is a requirement of poetry
that you drink deeply of your life
Today I put my hand
on the giant sunflower’s face,
soon it will be too tall to reach
the size of a dinner bowl
and solid petals
They are called Golden Bears
for a reason,
The texture like weirdly thick,
hairy moss
No wonder passersby try to pull it
down to smell it, though I worry
it will damage the stalk
I made rice balls for lunch
But had to leave the rice to sit
while I went on some
two hours worth of errands,
Two different mailing centers
The Euclid Kroger lot a clog
of circling cars, crews to fix
the roof lot, delivery trucks…
Someone was honking at the line of ten cars
behind the one waiting for me to pull out
I tasted a few vinegars and oils at Stuartos first
I bought the Blood Orange but
nearly got the Persian Lime.
I also bought their thickest balsamic,
Dennissimo
Aged in casks of Juniper, Ash,
Oak, Juniper and Cherry
Swilling samples from little paper cups.
The rice was still sticky enough
when I returned with the tuna
I’d forgotten to begin with.
I wet my hands so I could
smash it into shape,
keeping the tuna inside.
Wet, sticky and moldable
fragrant with vinegar
Still
There was a coolness
under the redbuds
and a sweet breeze
aflutter with spittlebugs
I noted the hummingbird
had finished gathering
all the dandelion fluff
for their nest
Grey skies and humidity
seemed to loom somewhere,
but the sun came out often
Pedophilic President Trump turned 80 and
In France People Are Dying Like Crazy From The Heat
the rain finally drizzled down
in the cool evening breeze
With so much to savor
my soul had itched to paint
My hands a strange conduit for my soul
My eyes hugging all that cannot
be touched or tasted
The kitten rolling on her back
in the unmowed grass
Taken as if by catnip frenzy
to sticking all four feet in the air
and licking her armpits
in case of emergency
Today of All Days
Thor’s Day
I could feel the Silver
Coursing Through Me
Pumping Through My Veins
And Inside
Behind My Chest
I Could Feel
The Hyena
LAUGHING
Take A Breath With Me
A Step With Me
As We Recall the Golden Age
And
Step Into the Silver
Aged
Bridging the Two Worlds
As I Knew
One Day
For Certain
or a fat orange cat,
like the otherworldly glow
of a salt lamp,
like clementine
or trumpet vine,
like a backyard full
of lightning bugs,
like creamsicle
or campfire,
like ginkgo leaves,
like topaz
and amber
and gold—
you turn it all gold.
I will not be here forever,
so you will have to remember:
I’m glad you’re here
because sometimes
here is all you can be
Before you speak, think.
Is it kind, or
at the very least,
necessary?
I never asked you
to do something I didn’t
think you could do, especially
the things you thought impossible
The only way to be stupid
is to be mean
It’s so much easier
to ask for someone’s
tater tot than
to distract them and steal it
All of us are working
to be better, but you have to
love yourself
through the journey
You are all so different
from each other because
there are so many ways
to be wonderful
And
even when you can’t
remember the joke I said
that made you laugh,
know that I can rest
because even your smile
was a difference I could make.
Dad calls to tell me how much
he and Dieter the dachshund
like to nap under the blanket
I gave mom last Christmas
the present she opened
in her hospital room, said
thank you and sent home
with me. What she meant
was that she would never
live to sleep under this blanket.
Would never live to see how
her children’s lives would turn out.
