Mother Goose

 

Careful ... watch out!

We almost caused an accident! 

Mother Goose and her goslings

another day of rain

crow raises his wings;
their sheen in this sleet!
chill Autumn rain



 bright colours
predominate, a tint in green --
another day of rain

 a cry raised, a clamour
before these geese depart --
it's only a little rain!

 

 

funeral in spring

geese flying home
along the Willow River --
 quite late before we leave




a funeral in Spring --
Country Western on the radio,
melt water in the field




  just across the county line
a green giant greets us
standing on a hill




bare trees, blunt tops,
all wore down in the swollen river --
Le Traverse De Sioux

funeral in Spring

For John, and the farm, the country and his family, that same small town and its neighbors tending the land and their community, its familiar landmarks and services surrounding, that allows one to come home however long they were away.





geese flying home
above the Willow River
as for Our Saviour
a little late before we leave





a funeral in Spring
Country Western from the radio
melt water fills the fields




wait, there's more ...





outside of Sibley County
almost to Le Suer -
a Green Giant greets us
standing on a hill





bare trees, their blunt tops
wore down by the Minnesota River -
Le Traverse De Sioux





" if a guy were smart" he'd say,
looking away
at an object in the distance,
you might look there, too
to see who's there,
or what was comin'
but what he was sayin' ,
was really about you"







his wardrobe was unique
flannel shirts, just red or blue ...
I cant think up a poem
about all those ears of corn






each voice in the choir
on its own, distinct
the congregation, rising
feeling on its feet






it's time to leave
the service is over
all of us together
we lift our keys
and shake them
in the air










John was an outdoors man.
You could always find him there
grading the neighbor's roads
sittin' up on his red tractor
or a tree stand in November
he'd built for some friends
by a corn field above the snow
trolling in his v hull, maybe
little kids with so he'd go slow
and once he took me fishin'
out on the ice, in wind and cold
me, a city boy, we just made a few holes
he left me with a jiggle stick
in a fold up, with Mr Heater
out of the air so I'd be warm
after awhile, a meditation later
'what's that smell' I began to wonder
just like hair and smoke and oil
that Mr Heater it turns out
got too close it burned my jacket
as well the lining and the down
to my embarrassment, something to behold
he come back and had a look
he laughed a little but - i did, too
he made it feel a rite of passage
our gentle laughter
just between he and I






John liked to toast
with a tall brandy seven
if we drank beer
it'd be somethin' old
like Hamm's, Schmidt or Buckhorn
we'd laugh so much it'd just get warm






"well, looks like we better go on in."

blue geese

I offer her
my last Pall Mall --
blue geese over Fujisawa



                        Navy Island on the Mississippi River; January 11, 2010; 10 below O [f]


first appeared in Resonance 9

Reconciliation

trying to reconcile my image of a semi-retired slouch
with my OCD has been no Spring picnic










more people seem fixated on a speckled fawn
than concerned with a flight of geese










poets anthropomorphize plants and rocks and things
while I struggle with inanimate objects










my MMPI reveals a predilection for occasional chairs that swivel










more than once I've been called upon to ask myself,
"What would a Monkey do?"









I never understood what they meant by "fat ladies in glasses"
until I'd been under surveillance by the Secret Service











they talk of War and all the while I've fought myself
and I'm one tough son-of-a-bitch

eye to eye

On a jaunt over the new suspension bridge across the St. Croix River,  I found myself eye to eye with wild geese in flight.

Pall Mall

.



I give her
my last Pall Mall --
blue geese in Fujisawa


;;;

 
New Resonance 9