Monday, November 21, 2016

UNIVERSE ~









Gathering Wood




Dark dark in the woods

My son walks, stumbles

Over brush and limbs, looks

Where to step by watching

My legs — how I do it —

Carrying the saw, not

Much talk (he is only two)

But instead we seem to be

Singing quietly about end

Of day around us, the tall

Trees taking light, his hands

Grip dry sticks for a cookstove

And the love of his mother,

We are heading back home









5 Year Old Logic
On A Winter Night


Under quilts he

says he is too hot



folding down the bed to

a sheet & one blanket



he looks up & says

he is too cold








Approval



  
We hiked into the woodlot first snow

Brought home a tree for the holidays

Misshapen hemlock few would look twice at

And because you were sick we held the

Tree outside the kitchen window for

You to see, smile, nod an approval

Point quickly to a chickadee

Off on a high branch








End of Story




Looking out at the hillside

Across the river and over the

Trees from our home Carson asks —

“Did we climb that mountain?”

I say, “No, but mommy and I did.”

Nodding, he decides, “Oh yeah,

We climbed that before I was born.”









Another Simple Story



We skated and skated

Later looking over

The lake north to

Snow clouds coming



And skated some more



(you do that with a child)



And because of that


Drove home in snow



_________________________

Bob Arnold
Once In Vermont
Gnomon




"Universe" 
painting by Bob Arnold 
(detail)