Heavenly Ring
Tonight —
because of her
because of me
& the telescope
I bought for her
birthday and she
has become so adept
she calls me out into
the chill spring eve to
look straight up
through lenses to a
miraculous visitation
with Saturn, of all places
ABC Of Love
Once a sassy woman student
Asked me during a reading
If I ever had a leech
On my penis knowing
I lived in the woods
And bathed in a river
The class of women
All held their breaths —
When my wife arrived smiling
And radiant ready to meet
The class for the first time
She answered the question
Immediate Family
for Cid
Either sentimental
Or superstitious &
Maybe both while
Finishing a day
Tree cutting I
Kneel to level
A last ash stump
Which throws up
Two wet leaves onto
The fresh wood &
Seeing that add
One more leaf be-
Tween the two
Making sure
All touch
Lucky
She is right, this woman
I love, it has been a windy
Fall. And her blonde hair slips
Apart in long strands and with
One hand she combs it away from
Her face and she is smiling. For
Lunch she eats an apple and suns
Her legs, a summer skirt raised.
She is a mother. A small boy is
Napping upstairs in the house.
When awake he will chase
Leaves that fall down from the
Sky, that’s how he sees it.
He calls me daddy because I am.
When I was off at work this
Morning up river laying stone
Along the road in the village
A blonde woman and her young son
Visited me. Hands cold gripping
Wet stone, boots chalked. This
Woman carried her little boy
In her arms, his green sweater
Was like the one my son wears
His mother knitted, ah the love
Of mothers! and I gathered stone
By hand and thought of blue sky
Above, day clear as the river,
And why you must love what you do.
————————————
BOB ARNOLD
I'm In Love With You
Who Is In Love With Me
Longhouse 2012
