Tag Archives: world

APART

 

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Before and after the weather report
we get news from far away places:
tragedies and terrible things

that want to linger in our minds
asking questions—but we don’t like
the answers that must be true

about the nature of humans opposed
to peace, that are driven to leave
horrible impressions behind.

We watch the cows come into water
in a well-spaced line, taking turns
at the trough, then count quail babies

herded on the lawn to escape the cat.
Within a wrinkle among so many others
on the durable hide of this planet,

we inhabit a canyon shaped
by the allocation of water
apart from the world outside.

 

JULY 2014

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After early rounds, we retreat, you and I,
to outside shade as the sun bakes
the earth white, drink hot breaths

of monsoonal air as finches pant on the beam—
and then again to the inside of the house
until the canyon’s shadow is complete.

We retreat, you and I, from the outside
world of wars and treachery, the frenzied
feeding of a fire of fears out there—

an eternal flame to keep from being
afraid of the dark—an instant enlightenment
designed for growth and commerce.

We retreat, you and I, knowing seasons
change—and we endure the heat reaching
into the fuzzy edges of our delirium

watering cattle and garden. We retreat
to one another and wait for the fire
to burn itself out—start over again.