DARLING COMPANION ~

Baby  Asleep

Walk around

Listening to

My boots

Mother & Child

You lift  

him

with a

smile

 &  he

smiles

 back

 which lifts

 you

Immediate Family

                                               for Cid

Either sentimental 

Or superstitious &

Maybe both while

Finishing a day

Tree cutting I

Kneel to level

A last ash stump

Which throws up

Two wet leaves onto

The fresh wood &

Seeing that add

One more leaf be-

Tween the two

Making sure

All touch

A True Story

                                              for Jim Koller

You’ll know what I am saying

When I say

She took 4 old chickens down the road

Along the woods river

And where she let them go

A few steps into the trees

Where no one has ever lived

A porcupine, the biggest she

Had ever seen, up near

Ledge on the hillside

Close enough so they could

See each other’s eyes and the

Chickens were between them

How he raised himself

How he waved to her 

Teamwork

Every morning by the cookstove

I loop long laces on my work

Boots, tie a simple bow —

He’s three years old, can’t

Tie his own boots, but sits

Down next to me and unties mine

_____________________________

Bob Arnold
Once In Vermont
Gnomon

photo: Bob Arnold
(Susan & Carson in Montana)