Swallowtail

Certain birds do it for me. Certain butterflies as well. The swallowtail ranks up there.

First swallowtail

Of the year.

It even flew

In front of my eyes

So I wouldn’t miss it.

It seemed it knew

I needed

A swallowtail sighting

To make the day

To make the week

To make the month

Somehow complete,

Somehow

More full.

Butterflies

Can do that.

Sometimes they must fly

Right by

Our eyes

A flash of yellow.

There

They say

Now you’ve got it.

Convoys

Who is our neighbor? The convoys can cross the border with help.

Because

There is not a wall,

The boundary

Is permeable.

Convoys can get in.

Convoys

May even be able

To go

The other way,

When we realize

When we finally realize

The time

Has come,

When we know

The time

Has been here

All along.

Non-vicarious things

Nothing like crashing from wall to wall in the middle of the night using a walker

Vertigo

Is not a new thing.

Still

Vertigo

With a walker

In the night

Had yet

To be experienced.

Now I have had

The experience.

I can add it

To the list.

My beloved says

I can live some things

Vicariously.

Still

I keep adding things

To the list

Of non-vicarious things.

Hobbies

I have not taken up knitting, though I understand it is soothing. I believe mosaic may be next.

Two boxes and a bag

Quilt fabric

Ready to go

To a place

Of need.

I run through

Hobbies

By the handful.

I have yet

To take up

Knitting

Though the texture

Appeals.

My daughter absconded

With the embroidery thread

Every DMC color

Wrapped carefully

In numerical order.

I consider mosaic

For the colors.

Yes

Mosaic

May be next.

More than heads

Ah, Easter Island.

We are always

More than our heads,

No matter what others

Might see.

Easter Island

Proves this.

For years we thought

They were only

Stone heads

On an island.

Now we know

We are all

More than heads.

There is always something

Under the surface.

We are all more

Than stone heads

On an island,

No matter what

Anyone else

Sees.

Nightly business

Sometimes it's something as simple as a bat, living its regular life.

Yes

It all takes time

All of it.

Never let it be said

Life happens

In the blink

Of an eye.

Then sometimes

Maybe too rarely

Something catches

Our eye

Maybe out the corner

Of our eye.

We left the restaurant

That something

Was a bat.

It went about its nightly business.

It swooped

For bugs.

Same glasses

There is a lot to be said for wearing the same glasses...for at least a few minutes.

The photos appear

From across the country

Remarkably alike

From South Carolina

To Kentucky

To Idaho

And beyond.

Some watched it

Recorded by NASA.

Remarkably alike

No matter

Who saw it where

Remarkably alike.

The topic of conversation

For two days

Even three

After it happened.

We all looked up

With the same glasses

For a moment

At least.

Only Venus

I am envious of those who saw stars during the eclipse...but still, we would never have met the group from Houston and heard about their 200 chickens.

We were not in a place

To see the stars.

However

We did see Venus

And the moon

Overtaking the sun

Piece by piece.

Our motel

Distributed

Moonpies

Milky Ways

And Starburst.

We ate breakfast

In a Waffle House.

Everyone talked

Of closing down

To watch the moon

Overtaking the sun

For once.

We hoped to see

More stars.

We were invited to watch

With a group from Houston

Set up

In the parking lot.

Then we went

Our separate ways.

We went to visit Nashville

Then home.

They went home

To feed their

200 chickens.

Everything

Everyone

Returned to our versions

Of normal.

Holes

Family road trip to see the solstice. 

Different things

Beckon us

To pull over

On road trips,

To speculate what

Is included

In various attractions.

Yesterday we missed

Fiberglass dinosaurs;

The Down Under Zoo:

(Pet a kangaroo).

We missed

The cave museum,

Wondered if

The displays

Were full of holes.

I am sure

This shows our ignorance

Of caves

As holes

In the ground.

Wishing well

These are fearful times, more fearful times. We have been here before. It does not help to say these times are not as bad as they were. We must pull them out one by one and pay attention.

Sometimes I write

As if

To convince myself

That certain things

Will be possible.

Then I read them again

Later

To convince myself

They may come true.

Words placed

On a page

On a blog

Dumped into

A wishing well.

Three wishes

Three words

To be drawn up

One by one.

The sun helps

We all sleep in the sun. It helps all of us.

The sun helps

Almost anything,

The exact right temperature

Between 60 and 65

With breeze

Which wafts,

Shakes the leaves

Of the ash

The linden

In the backyard.

Oh and the sun

Helps

Almost everything

No matter

The rest of it

All the time.

Soft landings

Do you want to apply?

There’s an opening

At Soft Landings

In Des Plaines

Or Joliet.

Hmm.

A temptation

I am unable to manage

Though if I had a company

I might name it

Soft Landings.

I dreamed the other night

I got a phone call.

They asked me

To be

A floater Bishop

For the Province.

“We’ll figure it out”

They said.

“You don’t need to tell

Your husband.”

They said.

He’ll find out

Soon enough.

“That’s not the way

Bishops' work”

I said

“Bishops’ don’t work

That way.”

Senior year

Next transition

Mothers post pictures
Of their living rooms
Completely covered
With final must-haves
To make it through
This next year.
In our case
This final year.
We wonder
What comes next
Though we know
It will be a surprise
It has always been
A surprise
Unforeseen,
The very definition
Of surprise.
She will pop out
Of her version
Of a jack-in-the-box
And we will never have seen
It coming,

Weddings

Part of a priest's life.

The bride and groom

Often seated me

At the reception

With the religious

Elderly aunt from Florida

As if we would have

The most in common.

There was also the wedding

Where the bride

Wore a headpiece

Of neon condoms

At the rehearsal.

Really?

Really?

I have not officiated

At a wedding

In years now.

I have attended

A few.

Walk with words

Charlottesville? Really? Now we're back to writing it off as "southern expression." No. No. It is all of our expression if we let it go.

So many times I think

I could do better

Than that,

I could do better.

Then I hear

Of Tiki torches and flags,

Or rainbows

In the streets.

My feet,

They would not

Be able to march

In any parade

So I walk with words

Instead,

Even though

They seem

Not enough,

I think they may have

To do

For now.

It was never

My plan.

It is still not

My plan.

We breathe the same air

It is difficult to be in relationship when someone has determined you do not breathe the same air.

She has determined

What I need to do

And be.

My view

Of the Universe

Is rarely

The same,

Even though I know

We breathe

The same air.

We occupy ourselves

With different things.

The sand hill cranes

Visit her

In winter.

They fly overhead here

In fall and spring.

We notice different things

She and I.

The cranes

Are vital

To me.

Still

They carry

That same air

North.

Soon enough

They will fly

Overhead.

Or maybe

Not soon enough

Too slowly

My daughter is home and invites me to have a pedicure with her. It is time, well past time.

Soon

Someone else

Will pay attention

To my toes,

On feet

That slowly

Begin to return to me.

Soon

It is time

For a pedicure

On feet

That slowly

Slowly

Slowly

Oh so slowly

Too slowly

Return.

From here to there

The difficulty of moving

So much of life

Is organized

Around where we live

Now.

Where to move?

We know where to shop

For groceries

We know

Where our doctors are

We know the hardware store

We know

Our Walgreens

We know so much of life

Here.

Our church

Our people

Every trail is laid

From here

To there.

Every trail

Every path

We need no GPS

From here

To there.

Things come in stages

What does it really mean to be righteous? It's never been a word I've applied to myself.

Within the course of two weeks

Last spring

Two professionals

Called me

Righteous,

For the decision

Not to drive.

It still took me

Another six months

To give up

My driver’s license.

The second car

Is still in the driveway.

Things come

In stages.

I may indeed

Be righteous

But I won’t be fully so

Until that second car

Is sold.

Insects

Every year it seems we notice different things.

The cicadas

Seem louder

This summer

Or perhaps

More constant.

Fireflies are fewer.

The insect world

Changes

With the light

And temperature.

I don’t remember

If I was noticed less

Last year,

And this year

More.

East of Paducah

We will pay attention this year, No cornfield. Still, we will pay attention.

Where was I

At the last eclipse?

Age 24

Living across

From a cornfield

While Annie Dillard

Wrote

Teaching a Stone

To Talk.

I don’t think

I noticed

Anything unusual.

An eclipse?

They happen,

Part of the natural order

Of things.

This year

We will have a motel room

East of Paducah.

We will pay attention

Yes.

Some things,

Even natural things

Require attention

Even if

We don’t live across

From a cornfield.

Even if

I don’t write

Like Annie Dillard.

Mulberries

As we get the house ready for sale, hopefully next spring, we look for the things which need doing. We thought the mulberries were invasive. Apparently not. But the buck thorn is.

Apparently

The mulberries

Are fine trees

To have.

When our daughter

Was small

She and her friends

Used to eat them.

Now it is only the birds

That eat them,

Spread the seeds

Everywhere.

Mulberries

Grow everywhere

Around the edges.

The tree trimmer says

They are ok,

Not on any list

Of banned trees.

Now buckthorn

That’s another story

Entirely.

We open our eyes

For buckthorn.

Buck thorn

Is everywhere.

Tree trimmer

We have made a list and are checking it twice. Ok, maybe checking it three or four times. Tomorrow is the new roof. Next week, the tree trimming.

The tree trimmer came

Admired our mountain ash

Reassured us

About the crab apple

Told us he would do

As much as he could

In a day

For a certain fee.

We wait for him

Next week

After the new roof

Is accomplished,

The new screens

And shutters scheduled.

How can this be?

How can so much happen

In so little time?

We so rarely

Get so much done

In so little time.

Taking a break

When we encourage people to do what they will, and they do...we should not be surprised.

Consider

Taking a break

From church.

OK

He says

OK

Then I realize

I am church

In some form

Or other.

I realize

I may never see him

Again.

This is not quite

What I meant

Though maybe

In the long run

It was.

I pray from a distance.

He finds church

Elsewhere.

The birds sing

On the Prairie Path.

Elsewhere

Church is found

Turned in my driver's license

Thanks, Joyce!

Finally did it:

Turned in my driver’s license

With the help

Of a friend.

Finally did it.

I could not bear

To mail it in

With no replacement

State ID

In hand.

I have not driven

For almost two years.

I already knew

I would not drive

Again.

Still

I guess these things

Take time.

I walk the house

Practice with the cane

For the time I fully leave

The walker behind.