He’s Nearby
for Franco
I hear
leaf
caught
in bicycle
JK & JPV
He said
when he
was old
real old
he would
go live in
Venice and
watch the
pretty women
She said
no the
prettiest
women with
the best
legs were
not in Venice
or France but
Czech women
He thought
a moment
and said
okay when
I am old
and alone
I will go
live in
Prague
I Sent To My Mother
my book of forty years of
love poems and she never
said if she received the book
or not, so I asked —
and she sighed
“Oh yes, I have that
I put it away”
Family Tree
They have come to visit
From a long way off —
The expectations are thrilling
He is 40
She is 30
Their daughter is 3
By the time they leave
After nearly two weeks
He is miserable
She is middling
And the daughter
Keeps hugging us
for John
_______________________
Bob Arnold
Heaven Lake
Longhouse 2018
