sam

helped dig our new
raingarden

you see, the deep roots
of the prairie flowers
send rain through to
underground reservoirs
and the watershed gives the wiggling creek her breast

but this is about sam
because I swear without the furry beard
and bug bites between boot tops and jean shorts
his dark hair
would be passing you in a lexus
headed downtown

the spiderwart, sedge, and iris
hang like children from his hands

the pleasant strangeness
of the soil
makes you dig deeper
and the earth around holds upright
weird waxy caps
sweet birch and
blazingstar
in the direction of heaven

but this is about sam
because he seemed shyly
in love with the woman working with him
and after two days'
warm, light rain
you can almost
see these young plants unbending

margaret gets dropped off from Sunday evening church

margaret
the neighbor
shuffling up her steps in
her white throw
her hands around her white straw hat
greets me with her shaky voice like old piano notes 
she likes to send
evenings through the windows

do the beautiful
come to look like this
bodies nearly doubled
and eyes like children?

beauty
is the hope of being 
better
that was the first 
idea that came to mind

or perhaps this:
beauty is
what you don't know yet
your finger makes it ripple
notes from an old piano
30 years un-tuned

sounds just fine
wandering between
tires shushing
from portland ave
it's a song with a tune i can't quite follow

Cold Fire Blues

Pale fire

Elena at Lake Harriet band shell

the absence of the afternoon
rain
left the evening
with a golden glow
thrown over the road all the way to the lake

we biked around the water
passing people who seemed posed
"enjoying
a moment by the lake together"
while in my heart
I was happily arranging
father feelings

that's not to say
this was not real
or as true
as we could make it

but it was another thing
that you did
when we stopped for a few free songs
from the orchestra in the band shell
and you got up and stretched out your arm
and slowly, slowly revolved with the music


almost
the whole visible world
seemed to pivot at the spot you marked


daughter
how will we learn
about these things?
at 30 I've forgot
and you don't yet know
the things you know

hack minstrel

When we part ways

Dan lived out there for over a year in the late 70's

i believe it was
for the sheer spectacle of
the open sky

for the length
the wyoming sun goes on and on
going down

i believe it was
the lack of underbrush

out there, it's already been cut in
and there are just one or two things
that you can go on thinking over
for a long, long while

with the sky for a roof
there is no homelessness
and some analogous situation
exists for heartlessness

you can work it out