HEAVEN LAKE ( 28 ) ~

As I Was Told

For years I have worked

As a gardener and for years

I have stood by flower and

Vegetable beds with an owner

Who would like this planted

And this pulled out and only

Occasionally have I not done

As I was told like this morning

The wild violets off to them-

Selves and still beaded with

Last night’s rain come crowded

Up past witch grass which makes

Me think I’ll protect them

Until the end

All You Need To Know

All you need to know about

America now is —

all my old tools are with me

working daily

hammers, trowels, levels

saws, plumb-bobs, rakes

while all my new tools

are soon broken

Instructor

Teenage girls in

Shorts and blouses

Holding notebooks

Visiting us in spring

Rain and later standing

In my work room of

Books paintings gifts

And the students pivot

In place soaking up

Everything yet are

Dumbfounded and

Cannot stop looking at

One wood sculpture

Ample naked figure

Propped against

One window —

A nut-

Cracker —

I thought not to show

How her legs parted

My Kind Of Place

with the wet rag

clump at the cash

register, anyone can

clean the tables

____________________

Bob Arnold

Heaven Lake

Longhouse 2018