sweetheart
photo ~ bob arnold
Don’t
ask us how we crossed the saltwater marsh
Grasses
were high and easy under foot
The
last stream was spanned by a driftwood plank
Thrown
carefully into the muck
I
didn’t sink and you didn’t sink
And
when we came to ocean
Skittering
of sandpipers
You
held your dress and walked into the spray
It
must have been also the sudden daylight that I loved
What I Hear
This
river water is
The
warm breath of
Her
whisper, what I hear —
The
brown and white flurry
Of
her thin clothing
The
sweat of handwork
That
musses the long
Blonde
hair — dirt across
The
forehead, may I wash
It
off? thicken my hands
In
that hair, kiss what I love
Away
from our work and bathing
Part
whisper and part water
Hummingbird
Rarely
pausing
Though
I have seen
It
stop the flutter
Of
its amazing
Wings
and perch
Nearly
invisible
On
a wire against
The
evening sky —
And
be sighted —
And
being very
Still,
be thought
Of
as not there
How We Build
It
is a day
Of
sawing slab wood
Splitting
Then
stacking
And
be done
Tucking
away insulation
Fixing
windows
Sharpening
every tool
The
happy moment
Is
there are still
Small
grasshoppers
In
the slip of meadow
That
it is 28 degrees
At
7 this morning
And
I wash your hair
In
one bucket of
Strong
spring water —
There
is nothing like it
__________________________
Bob Arnold
WHERE RIVERS MEET
