Lincoln County Driving through familiar farmland with my wife, I name the former high school classmates who once tilled those fields. But almost all of those kids left the family farms and moved to various cities. Their parents are now far too old to still be working the harvest so I guess they probably sold all their acres and retired. O, we humans love to think that the sacred is stable but time constantly rearranges the world and replaces our childhood fables with hard-working strangers.
Cobbler
At Easter Mass, I notice
that the sole is coming loose
from my shoe. These are not
the kind of shoes that can be
re-resoled but they're still
good shoes. I've owned them
for a decade. I've worn these
at weddings, funerals, poetry
readings, formal dinners
and fundraisers. And, most
important, on date nights
with Diane. These shoes—
these carriages—have carried
me through magic and loss.
And I'll mourn later at home
when I untie their last knots.
3:15 a.m. Yes, Insomnia, my fraternal twin, let's kick and kick because there's not enough room in this womb for either of us to keep any sleep.
Black Box Eventually, you begin to understand that some of the people you loved didn't love you back so you walk around the urban lake where dozens of wrecked planes sit on the water's floor. Some of those wrecks are ghosts. But some aren't because ghosts are only ghosts when they're still remembered by the living. Someday, you'll forget those who've forgotten you. Or maybe you won't.
Distillness Goest Hard
This quartet of poems......superb.