IBM Selectric

Another day I thought I would write something completely different.

We are continually
Examined
Up one side
Down another.
I sit and write
On the computer,
Remember I took
Ordination exams
On the IBM Selectric
A top of the line
Instrument.
Top of the line
Changes daily.
Most people these days
Do not even understand
The expression
Top of the line
And
IBM Selectric
Even less.
They are in handbooks
Of archaic machines
Archaic expressions.

One at a time

Grateful for a faucet that can drip. Warming buses. One person warmed, at a time. It matters to this one.

The faucet drips.
We will make it through
This cold snap.
Warming buses
Drive the streets
Of Chicago.
They find the people
Left behind
Always
Left behind.
Always
Always
Left behind.
It matters
To this one
It matters
To at least
This one.

Mouse breath

Red tennis shoes.

I think of
Kliban's cats
In red tennis shoes
Love to eat them mousies
They are cute
Those mice
Even when they have
No footwear
They are proud
Those cats
When they have
Something to show
For their efforts.

Haven

Can we keep them, Mom, can we keep them??

Our home
Is a haven
For mice
Until spring comes.
Spring will not arrive
For a couple months yet.
Meanwhile
Our home
Is a haven.
The turtle tank,
Empty of turtle,
Still sits
In the playroom.
It awaits
New purpose.
Soon
It will be
A mouse house.

No quitters

We can wait forever

She stalks the mouse
Now under the dresser.
She knows it will emerge
Soon
Until then
She waits.
No quitter
She.
Meanwhile
I wait
Downstairs.
No quitter
I.

Wrestling

With thanks to Dylan Thomas.

Do not go lightly
Into the night
When you are meant
To throw it down
On the mat
Wrestle it
Like Jacob wrestled
That angel
At the Jabbok.
Got his blessing.
Praise God
For blessings
However
They come
Whatever mark
They leave
Wherever
We may go.

I will be able to leave

Because I can not shovel snow does not mean I am home bound. 

Today
I will be able
To leave.
I hired some people
Who sought
To be hired
To clear the snow.
Today
I will be able
To move
Out the front door,
Be driven
To work.