Purple Japanese Iris
Where you stand
They just about
This Place In Every Life
for John Levy
A span of 20 feet —
Someone, but no
One’s around, once
Laid down these log
Poles and nailed the
Planks for what I balance
On and cross, and then
Turn and once again
Walk over, because I
Like the feeling, a
Mountain creek beneath
And leaves floating,
The range of light —
Now back across slowly
The last time
Finally into my direction
Been Gonna
To Everett everything
He had meant to do was
Termed “been gonna” —
So when you view his
Unfinished farm built on top
Of old farms of the
Past, including the burned
Down house his was above,
And the barn once torched,
Never mind the wrecked cars
Over the river bank and
Sculptures of rusted farm
Machinery pulled into one
Corner of the pasture, and
The sugarhouse built on a
Slipping log sill, and the
Barbed wire fence line
Fallen in the brook, you’re
Looking at a lot of been gonna.
_______________________
Bob Arnold
Where Rivers Meet
