Fitzcarraldo
The time we worked in the woods
Cutting trees in the old sugar stand
Opening back up to the light and the
World some of the largest maples we
Had ever seen, Sweetheart called the
Job our Fitzcarraldo, after the Herzog
Film, when they cut a wide swath over
The mountain in a jungle to pull the
Ship over to reach another waterway —
But we were after no waterway
Just cutting tree after tree and
Brush and piling it all but still
Like the movie Sweetheart
Said she had the same opera
for Susan
Preacher
If you don’t think a name
Or job description means
Anything let me tell you about
Preacher’s place when the high
Winds of summer went through one
Year and shook his woodland hills
Where at the base was built some
Time ago a prefab log cabin by the
Date I liked to look at on the stone
Chimney and though the cabin wasn’t
Much and Preacher came from out of
State to visit he must have lived here
Long enough for a guardian angel
To watch over his place because he
Hired me after one of those storms
And said I might want to bring Native
And his tractor along and when we
Got there, sure enough, tall white
Pines had flopped down in the winds
As if placed by a higher being
And not a scratch to any of the
Four sides of the dinky cabin
With its many windows vista
But it was something to see
The building boxed in by trees
That took most of the day to cut
Innuendo
Curious-lady always used to think every
Man in the village was a peeping-tom
Until she decided, in fact, who was her
Peeping-tom. Since Curious-lady lived
With her mother and was attractive with
A pink ribbon often trailed off in her
Chestnut hair we liked visiting with
Her while tolerating these lame brain
Stories of nocturnal visitors she got-a-
Good-look-at-this-time. More often than
Not she would stop in the middle of a
Conversation and ask us pinpointedly
Just who was that woman or man we
Were with the last time she saw us and
When satisfied would nod her head and
You could almost see her gears turning.
Months even years later Curious-lady would
Remind us about our friends as if waiting
To hear a little more, needling some secret.
The peeping-tom in the village was a little
Guy who had a lowly government job in town.
His wife was nuts and kept a human scale
Baby doll in a glass top coffee table in their
House and a life-size doll in colonial dress
Out by the old stone water well. It’s too much
To think about. Though Curious-lady when got
Going liked to talk about how peeping-tom
Dressed the doll and other cruel innuendo.
This is somewhat of a clue how folks made
It through these long dark winters.
Rule of Thumb
don’t stay
long in
any
town
with
out a
real
hard
ware
store
_______________
Bob Arnold
Yokel
Longhouse
2011
