Visitors
In well over twenty-five years living
In the house now and the
Cabin before that I can’t recall
More than five visitors coming
To the door after dark — some
Didn’t quite make it to the door —
Like the summer night we heard
A car go up river by our cabin late
When hardly no one ever passed
And I suddenly heard the vehicle
Stop just beyond our reach which
Seemed strange so I listened
Carefully by the screen window
Of the back room and could just
Hear someone climb over the long
Stone wall I built over some years
And now pass through the low
Branch pines, snapping sticks but
Not wanting to and I waited for the
Bugger to pass by my stand in the
Dark room and when he did —
Sensing him better than I could see —
I asked, So what do you want?
And the figure startled and hurled
The stone wall any which way
No matter the scratch of trees
Which must have excited me
Because I grabbed my axe and
Climbed the ladder to the second
Floor and stepped out onto a flat
Porch roof I liked to take my morning
Leak from, seeing the river, and
Cried out into the darkness to
Come out, come out,
Wherever you are!
Visitors 2
Another time — and I have to
Laugh — was when Redneck
Came to the cabin after dark
Looking for a lost young hunter
The first day of deer season and
Up over the border from his state
Which was only two miles from our
Door but more often than not a
Hunter strayed and Redneck
Had a hunch this youngster
Might have, standing a little
Funny looking to us in his chief
Of police uniform and holster
Rather than his mill clothes we
Knew him by and being a powerful
Man he had swung the cabin
Door wide when walking in
Which just about hid the fresh
Crop of marijuana leaves that
Had been brought by the day
Before from a friend who asked
For a place to dry his harvest
And with casual thought I said
Just hang it there not having
Ever seen marijuana or even
Giving a thought to what it was
Visitors 3
Was it the same year as
Redneck or another hunting
Season when a rabbit hunter
Banged hard on the cabin asking
About someone else lost? It may
Have been a week later, and the
Guy looked like a cop and said
He knew Redneck and it was
Just past dark but my friend had
Already been back when he said
He would and bundled away his
Precious pot plants so there was
Nothing to fuss over except maybe
To get a look at Sweetheart who
Was young and long blonde and
Hidden out in these woods with me
Visitors 4
We watched a movie once and
Relished it so much we didn’t
Pay any attention to the someones
Coming to the door late at night and
Stumbling about trying to knock on
Every door of this old farmhouse
Including the no nothing woodshed
And we could listen to it all because
We turned the sound of the movie off until
They left and the headlights dimmed away
Visitors 5
Last but not least were farm
Neighbors — father and older son
And maybe the farmer was drunk
Because I knew he didn’t have the
Nerve to come and ask what he asked
Without being drunk or with the bruiser son
But I played their game of wondering if I
Had tools to sell and kept them with me
Out in the cold under the stars and nowhere
Near inside since a younger son had the
Reputation for breaking into homes so I
Kept it safe by my talking of the old ways
And days with the farmer which about
Lulled him into a happiness of a past and
Remembrance and that congeniality
Between us which certainly bored the
Bob Arnold
Yokel
Longhouse
2011
