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Poems

Tadpole

The walk is long, starting at your house,
Counting as you cross each square of sidewalk:
One, two, ten, one hundred
Careful to avoid the cracks

Then you're finally at the road,
The one made of dirt instead of asphalt,
With real, tall trees, branches
That bend over your head, and
Best of all, the creek
Beside the road, in the morning shade,
Always worth exploring, looking
For tadpoles you can put in a jar
And take home, so different
From the lizards in the desert where you're from

They only lost their tails, but tadpoles
Change to something different
Like a magic trick

The way you'll change
After you've walked that road
A hundred times

Past the creek, to the town, the foursquare church,
The corner store selling popsicles shaped like rockets,
The school where no one
Is your friend

Possibility

Close up your heart
Like a house you're leaving

Let everything inside
Gather dust

Then one, two days of
Every year, just visit

Rattle the front door knob
Make sure it's good and locked

Check the windows
To see that none have cracked

But don't go inside
Or you'll disturb the dust
Let something out

And then who knows
What may happen

Yet She Stands

Still straight her arm, though weakened now with age,
Her stoic gaze impassively to sea,
The Exiles’ Mother, grateful to breathe free,
Still greets, ignoring petty despots’ rage.
For still the huddled masses teem far shores
And beacon-bearing duty she will keep
As mothers must, a charge as firm as deep:
To beckon in the dark and hold the doors.
Still resolute, her back rebukes the land
Where sons of immigrants forget the routes
So lately traveled by their fathers’ boots,
And clamor now that she should drop her hand.
She’s silent yet, but fierce, and will not yield;
A firm resolve remains her strongest shield.

In re: "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus

CONVERSATION WITH THE BOY V

The boy is walking away
Shoulders held high and rigid
Not looking at his feet
As I do on this rocky shore
He still walks slowly
As if stalking the fear we have addressed
With our halting words
His back is to me, unspeaking
Now that we have had our say
And said nothing
And everything

Even bad choices are healthy
I call to him
It is the wrong thing to say
He walks faster
Why can I never get it right?, I lament
To my aching bones

There is still time to change, I call to him
The rounded stones under my feet
Are slippery with the tears of angels
The boy stops and glares at me
Not for you, old man, he taunts
How many times have you tried that dance
And fallen over your feet?

I push to close the gap
I will never leave you, I cry
He is farther and farther away
And I will never leave you, the boy replies
It is our Hell
He turns and walks, dwindling

I forgive you, I shout after him
The boy’s rigid shoulders drop
As if at the end of a sigh
I don’t, he replies
His voice is a wisp of sadness
As he retreats into the vanishing light

I watch him go
Knowing he will never leave
Knowing he will always hurt
Knowing his gift is a shroud of doubt
I feel it settle on me
And try to shrug it off
The boy is gone
There is nowhere else to walk
I forgive you, I whisper
Into the darkness
I forgive you

Christmas Tree Lighting, Bellingham, Washington, 2016

In the rain we stand with the rest,
Going through the motions of
Empty ritual and forced meaning
Children, anticipating some sort of
Epiphany, sit on fathers' shoulders,
Hold mothers' hands, and watch

The mayor speaks, "I'll keep it short,"
Her standard blessing. And then the
Flipping of the switch, or plugging in of the
cord to the socket. I couldn't see.
Somehow, the making of
A connection, power to light.

We're cold and wet, we've patiently waited,
The lights are lit and, en masse, the crowd
Disperses. If you look up "anticlimactic" in
The dictionary, you will find a photo
of this event. As we head to our car, my sweetie
Gives me her review, "Too much white."
She was talking about the tree lights but
She could easily have meant the crowd.

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