THE COMEDIAN ~

MIRROR IMAGE ~

BOB DYLAN SPEAKS HIS BOGGY CREEK ~

O NAVIGATOR ~

O Navigator

I’m an innocent bystander —

it’s my lover who hikes

up river for mail and some-

times meets curious things

along the way, like the fellow

in the car just now, after the

flood in this valley, who needs

to get to “west layden road” — my

lover corrects him, “you mean west

leyden road?” “ yes”, he says, then adds

“my navigator says it’s this way”

pointing to his dashboard, then southward

“but there isn’t any road this way since the flood”

she points south

“but my navigator says it is this way”

he points south

she kindly continues, “it is this way”

pointing south

“but the road’s gone”

still pointing

inch by inch

pointing someone

back to earth

Nite~Nite

It's a little secret

that I'll tell you

and only my lover

knows and she’s quiet

as sunshine on the

leaves, and it's all

about our little kitten

once upon a time and 

how much it delighted 

her that when I went to

bed far later than she did

I would always turn to the

kitten who would be awake

and active, even at midnight,

and say nite~nite to him be-

fore I climbed the stairs to

join my lover warm in bed —

yes, I admit, it is a beautiful

life I have, and now that the 

kitten is a cat my love asks and 

really wants to know do I still 

say nite~nite before I go to bed

to the grown cat who could

pretty much care less —

I do

The Back Back Road

A guy

I've known

the longest

around here

just went

by on his

ATV

cowboy hat

boots and

oxygen tanks

balanced

on his

lap, heavy

smoker is

Ben

——————————

Bob Arnold

BEAUTIFUL   DAYS

Longhouse

BOP APOCALYPSE ~

R E V I E W

Da Capo 2016

SOUNDTRACK OF THE REVOLUTION ~

Stanford University Press

2017

BILLY MILLS ~

T i n y     P i e c e s





scattered

this glass

reconstitutes



folds

determine




~




follow

the lines



come

again




~




sun

after rain



luminous

leaves



boxroom

window




~






various greens



a pair of thrushes





~





first

the world



next

the word



imperfect

charting




~





close

now



slowly

come




~





touch

call

remember



simple

pleasures




~





here

where



all

is



tiny

pieces



—————————————————————
this is Tiny Pieces published in 1998 by Wild Honey Press
and sent to Bob & Susan by Billy a few years later.

It's June 2017 as I type out all the book to share with you,
having to, watching Dennis the Menace of the White House
pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord. You can't sit still
when in the presence of idiocy, you must scatter gems.

Here you go







Billy Mills

JOHN PHILLIPS ~

Gratitude

for Fadhila Chabbi

Wherever I walked dust covered my tracks

Whatever I made fell to a thousand pieces

Whatever I said was lost in the wind

Whoever I loved loved nothing in the end

Whoever I created vanished the same

~

What is happening

when this is happening

is what this

happens to be.

~

A Way

Your absence is

the silence

to say this

toward your not

being here.

~

As

meaningless

the sun

means

us

~

Afterwards

Every time I sit down

to write this

I expect someone else

to rise from my chair,

in a different world,

impossibly better.

~

No matter

what it is

I'm doing

I've never yet

got over the

idea

I'm pretending

to do what

I am.

~

This

Whatever else it is a poem

is often nothing

more than thinking

there's something there to be

found when there's

nothing but thinking so.

~

Reading

Remember

these words

know more

than you

you came here

for a purpose

no word

could give.

——————————————

JOHN PHILLIPS

Shape of Faith

Shearman Books 2017

DICTIONARY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ~

Thames & Hudson, 2015

A REVIEW

ROBIN MAGOWAN ~

NEW!

&

REVISED!

pages

perfect-bound

Yours for $12

$3 shipping

Paypal (use our email address of "poetry@sover.net") or check to:

Longhouse, PO Box 2454, West Brattleboro, VT 05303

overseas orders, please inquire

Thank you!

SONGS WITHOUT WORDS ~

WOODLANDS ~

Historical

The guy didn’t like me from the start

no matter how hard his girlfriend tried

who was my close friend

and he probably didn’t like my lover either

or the truck we drove

or the food we ate

the guy never budged

from a long way back he had his reasons

long before he knew us

and those guys are the worst

Without Facebook

I hadn’t seen him in a very long time

twenty years or better, which is a long

time in a very small state with very small

towns, and we had both come into the bigger

town at exactly the same time to have a bite

to eat — I saw him walk in and had no idea

who he was, except I liked his very long goatee

which I liked again when he came over to our

table to say hello — the luxurious ponytail was 

gone, the head was shaved, but it was the same

smile and laughter, and it’s always been a

miracle to me how our voices never change —

we caught up twenty years in far less than

twenty minutes, when another friend arrived

and another friend was gone

Woodlands

Then there was the time

The tree crew boss, Will,

Sent Davey up the road along the river

To work up the red oak logs that had

Fallen down over the bank after the big

Tree was dropped into the road and shoved around.

Davey nodded with no words and took a pickup truck with him.

One of us thought we'd get up there before too long to help Davey

But before we knew it Davey had the pickup packed tight with

Bucked up logs and it looked overblown even from a

Distance since the truck had a cab on the back and

Walking closer something didn't look right —

Now Davey was new to the crew, one year.

Next to Will he was the biggest on the crew —

Strong arms and an all-day working back and he liked

Driving the large truck with bucket to far-flung job sites

Just like this one — miles from any town, a deep wooded

Valley with a river running through, houses tucked away.

One of the houses was mine and the crew was working on

My land, for the electric company, cutting out a right-of-way

Path for new lines. I was an adopted member of the crew for

This job and we made fast friends, and Will overseeing all was

A classic hardworking maverick not at all minding doing a job

That cut and trimmed trees mindful of not being a butcher —

In other words, a great guy. Getting everything right for the

Electric company within reason, and keeping the woodlands

Woodlands. It's the difference between war and peace and Will

Was a peaceful man the size of a bear. He could chop apart the

Biggest tree in the way, or trim it with the delicate touches of

Decorating a Christmas tree; whatever seemed right. A thinker.

Davey had worked as a cook in restaurants before this. The rest 

Of the crew liked to tease him playfully as he worked his body

Rhythm into a stamina to take the daily pounding and thrashing with

Chain saws and hour after hour feeding a chipper with branches

And bramble. He smiled slowly and a few missing teeth from a

Party when he was 17 said you should see the other guy. Bruiser.

So we come up to the bruiser and he's spent and sweated through

Hair all mussed and shoulders starting to slump because the logs

He's cut up were down deep over the road bank and he had to haul

Some up by chain. Now two trees were cut the same day and at the same

Location, but Davey wasn't around the day the huge oak was dropped with

The big basswood tree right alongside it. To a former cook, who said

He liked to eat Cheerios in the morning for breakfast, the course

Bark of the basswood might look like oak. A trained woodsman would 

See the difference right-off and we all did when we approached the truck

Stuffed to the gills with basswood logs, that was loaded by Davey for me

To bring home to split as red oak, premium firewood, where I couldn't

Say much of a word after all the bullwork Davey put into the load.

So I listened to the crew chide him

And they did,

For a few days.

I later stayed home and

Hand-split junk I otherwise

Wouldn't look twice at.

—————————————

Bob Arnold

BEAUTIFUL   DAYS

Longhouse