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
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)
