After The Flood
The yellow birch logs split tough
Those are the trees standing after the flood
The sycamore splits with ease
The Searchers
We didn’t ask for any help
where we worked in the woods
along the river and we worked
steadily for weeks on end, no
one ever came by to visit or to
lend a hand, except for a stranger
who said he was a rock hound, he
hunted for precious rocks, and he
was curious to investigate our river
land where we worked, even showed
us special containers where his findings
shimmered, and since we were working
on the damage caused by a flood we in-
vited him down with us and continued our
woodcutting huge driftwood trees, as he
drifted off, young with shaved head bent
searching and dreaming as miners do
Being Alive Is All There Is
Maybe you saw him too —
the happiest person in the world
not more than a boy
being interviewed
and his father was
interviewed too and
he was clearly not a happy man
he was but a man
with all the thoughts of men
I had a father just like him
I bet you did too
and this boy must have known
something, because the way he
told his story was that he one day
jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge
in San Francisco, and somehow he
lived to tell his story, and I think he
lived because we were supposed to
know, and now that we do
now what do we do?
River Flows
After the flood
it took four very long weeks
for our woods river to clear
no longer muddy
no longer murky green
no longer running toxins
people drowned in such a river
houses were destroyed
gas tanks, hot tubs, ATVs went down
trees by the 1000s, animals lost, and
just by its thundering new sound
people were frightened for miles
especially in the pitch dark woods —
then one day the river cleared
the sun played in it again
you sat down beside it
lifted off you boots
and stuck your sore feet in
————————————
Bob Arnold
BEAUTIFUL DAYS
Longhouse
