Sunday, October 12, 2014

DETOUR ~










What I Found on the Detour





That there are other ways to go —


That the Zimmermans sold their cows
And now there is a hillside of sheep

 

That the fellow who saws and sells firewood
That his work horses look healthy

 

That there are other towns
One growing & selling the best tasting corn of the summer

 

That there are small town libraries
That there are small town post offices

 

That there are people in both ready to help
That I feel robust seeing and knowing this

 

That everyone, everyone! pulled off to the side
Of our narrow river road and let others come first

 

That only one fool barked his car horn because
He won't talk, but he was the only one

 

That the river is shallower south
Than it is in the north

 

That there are footbridges with cameras
God help us

 

That engineers describe a bridge plan 600 feet long out in
Splendid nowhere, and drop it like a lead weight

 

That others actually propose moving the covered bridge
That was certainly built where it is for a reason

 

That it has earned and survived a 100 year flood to
Stay where it is, more than anything we know

 

That a state pond has a morning mist
That floats our eyes

 

That a working farm, open to the wind, has
The only light shining when I pass at 5AM

 

That a house I also pass, used to be a slaughter-
House I knew, and what a legacy

 

That at a corner store my wife met a friend for the first time
They started to shake hands, which fell into a big hug



That passing an abandoned sawmill, quiet as a ghost town
A fisher cat could be seen scrambling where logs were yanked

 

That the day the Green River Covered Bridge re-opened
Reggie from Colrain stopped, both of us driving trucks five

 

Miles south of the bridge, and pointed to a bald eagle stone
Still in a tree along the river — he wanted to take a photograph —

 

And instead the eagle flew




~ Bob Arnold



photo & poem 2014  © bob  arnold