Susan, Bob, Jack, VW beetle, wheelbarrow, home (1980)
~
I'm In Love With You Who Is In Love With Me
for Susan & Carson
October ~ for Susan
It is a small bowl
You wash from
This early morning
Your hands just right
For its depth
Long Ago
That tiny toy instrument
Shaped like a French horn
Displayed with a dozen others
We both gave it a squeeze —
But for some reason this
One sounded the best
With its familiar sound
More than a horn
And it took your breath away
And close to tears
At how its cry
Was like our geese
On a little farm
From long ago
Work Song
We carried the saw and ax to the top of the hill
Hop hornbeam logs waiting dry off the ground
I cut the logs into firewood size and split each one
You do the ground work, keep everything in order
We stack the splits into heavy canvas sacks
Carry it all down a trail under trees of meadowy leaves
I’m in love with you who is in love with me
The woodshed at home is filled to the brim
I’m in love with you who is in love with me
Finding Open Water
There are these things
That make lovely creatures
More lovely —
A red-tailed hawk sweeps
From one moment of the hillside
To another
Rising mist will not lose him
3 deer wade into the shoulder of a field
They feel safe in the holler of rain
Then you, rolling up your pants
Before a bicycle ride
Your hair just touching the ground
I tell you I will do something with that
Your smile makes the beginning of all this
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
————————————
BOB ARNOLD
I'm In Love With You
Who Is In Love With Me
Longhouse 2012
