Breaking News
What's to be done with “Breaking News?”
I watch the news with the sound off and read the captions
So there is no sound of anything breaking
A second ago it was a cyclone
Now it's two planes nearly colliding over Indiana
The breaking news is now old news for all the passengers
It's not even news, it's good luck, they're still alive!
We need more good luck on television news —
By the time its breaking news reaches us
The cyclone may have died down to
A light breeze, there’s no way
To make news with mother nature
For instance, it's raining as I write this
But probably not as you read this
Millionaires
What to say to
A Mexican gal
Working high off
In the mountains
With a quick greeting
For us to step out
Back and see what
They do — dyeing
Wool over a cast
Iron pinion fire —
The dyes stir with
Wool skeins in two
Deep tubs boiling as
Bare armed she works
Ingenious pulleys to
Lift out and bleed
Magnificent colors —
Nothing like we see
Anywhere else in old
Town until we look up
To the sky, and another
Worker drapes the dipped
Wool over makeshift
Drying racks, neither
Women bothering much
To wear their masks
For the wicked vapors
Since out of nowhere
In the smolder of heat
And poisons she says
They are both
“Going to win the
Lottery” — fast toothy
Grins — “Yep, going
To win big-time
A million bucks!”
Cross Country
In all our windows
It’s the moon
On the train
Mother Earth
Lonesome far
Out in the snowy woods —
When we wanted
A friend to visit
We built
A snowman
—————————
Bob Arnold
Heaven Lake
Longhouse 2018
