Can You Imagine
Can you imagine this
Being your life at six
Years old walking out
The woodshed door as
A blue heron lifts up
From our old truck
And you run inside
Even though you
May be late for
School to tell us
About the bird this
Big (arms can’t spread
Yet big enough) as
We look into your
Expression loving that
Two Spoons
It’s Valentine’s Day —
We are 22 years married
And share strawberry shortcake
At midday, the waitress saw
To bring two spoons
Our son comes home from
Fifth grade, says Kevin
Gave Angela a $30 bracelet
And she didn’t want it — all he can
Remember is most of the class cried all day
Summer
one more
day of
school
and then
he is
morning
noon
and
night
Little Ones
I went out before the rain and scythed the roadway. Only me out there, though Kokomo, our kitten, would certainly follow me anywhere. Yesterday I was scything and a neighbor was walking by, she limps and her elder dog wheezes. I can hear them coming from fifty feet off with my back turned on an old dirt road. She knows the pooch is going to die any time now, but I mentioned how she still wags her tail. What a heart an animal has. I’ve tried to learn my lessons from birds and animals and the great Mother more than other humans, but occasionally a human being becomes a spectacular moment. So as I am saying adieu to the neighbor and her dog heading up river for the mailbox, I turn and look down behind the stonewall and there’s my buddy Kokomo who has made his silent stay all the way to the road and by my boots where I stand. . .peering out with those glorious eyes. Beaming. It was his first look at a dog. I left myself and thought more about him. I know he is everything to me that I give to my one grown son. It can’t be helped.
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BOB ARNOLD
I'm In Love With You
Who Is In Love With Me
Longhouse 2012
