ANA GONZALEZ ~

Ana González at a protest march in Santiago, Chile, in 2002, with photographs of the four relatives who disappeared during Chile’s military dictatorship.CreditCreditSantiago Llanquin/Associated Press

R E A D     M E

HEAVEN LAKE (5) ~

The Day After The Flood

The day after the flood when

the road was out of commission

and I mean out of commission

a motorcyclist showed up in the

evening as we all stood there

looking at a chasm in the road

now we looked at the motorcyclist

and the motorcyclist looked at us

we all looked at the heap of fallen

rock and chasm into what was once

a road and the motorcyclist

looked at it as well

it wasn’t easy to turn around

and all this rock was in the

way for him heading further

until he insisted his motorcycle

up onto the rock as good as

telling us he was continuing

the people who had been there

at least half dispersed seeing this

craziness and wanting no part of it

the rest looked for a little while and

then they too were gone, this left me

with an old farm hand as we watched

the motorcyclist defy intelligence

and get himself and his bike locked

up onto the rocks and that’s

when he turned around and

looked back at us standing

there watching and that’s when

we saw the little dog peek out from

the cyclist’s leather jacket and now

the dog was looking at us too, and

then I was looking at the farm hand

and the farm hand was looking at me

and we went to help the motorcyclist

and the dog get up and over the

rubble mountain, scratching and 

denting the bike until it was over

and with little or no fanfare the

rider with the dog took off sending

back at us a little hand wave

the all mighty little hand wave

Signs

For years, even decades

the little strong box

for leaving money

or taking your change

in the red shanty

alongside the road

up from the farm

where corn is bought

never had a lock

the day it did

life as we knew it

was over

The Void

It will get as cold as it wants to

tonight, you have no choice little man

either get some shelter

or freeze to death

if you freeze to death

you’ll be invincible

as a planet seen from space

—————————

Bob Arnold

Heaven Lake

Longhouse 2018

Downtown Wilmington, Vermont

at the height of Hurricane Irene
28 August 2011