I carry my life with
me
at all times;
I take it wherever I go;
Oh, I know
it's in disorder,
all that precious stuff!
and a whole lot
has dropped
to the bottom
so I can't always retrieve
exactly what I need;
yet I find it very comforting
that absolutely everything
is there,
somewhere,
inside and together.
Taking the
Plunge
A man,
troubled by
approaching age,
walked with
quaking legs
to the end
of a
diving board;
stood for a moment,
remembering past summers,
and
dived, head first,
into his boyhood.
Deaths In The
Family
It is laid out
on the table before me
and my imagination
continues to fill in
two pieces
conspicuously missing
from the
whole beautiful puzzle;
I want so badly
to complete the picture
again
I can only remember
how it used to look.
Du Fu’s Poetry
gradually,
I slide
down into
his poems
that are
so deep
it takes
all my
imagination
to see
what he sees
to feel
what he feels
how amazing
it is possible
to do so
what a ride
to the depths
of a distant time
and place
where he is
the man
he was.
Listening To A
Photograph
Every day I stare at
it
and remember how
we all went down
to the waterfront;
he is on the chair
we brought with us
he wears his favorite
fisherman’s hat
and a full beard
half in sunlight
half in shadow
large hands are at ease
the little grand-daughter
smiles from his lap
he seems about to utter words
of great importance
so I stare at the picture
and keep trying to hear
what he wants to say.
Memorial Service at
the Cemetery
The night before
I imagined
how I’d beat
upon his stone
create a disturbance
shout out his name
so he would
rise up
embrace me clumsily
pat my back
say, “Aw Ma!
You know
I love ya!”
as he did
that time
I carried on
because
he sent
no card
for Mother’s day.
