MY ABSENT PRESENCE
People will weep.
Maybe they’ll pray.
They’ll likely say
nice things – Oh, Christ!
–When I met them.
–Where we took care.
–How I look now.
Then all my friends
will become still
as our whole past
binds up their minds
and that’s my brand.
ANOTHER YEAR ENDING
The geese are gone.
Another winter’s coming on,
and then a sound sleep
before we wake and leap.
Another year’s ending,
and then a new beginning.
Because life needs a frame
every year’s the same.
DUCK TAPE AND CHICKEN WIRE
A man can fix any part
with duck tape and chicken wire
except for a broken heart
and a field of wheat on fire.
The crop will grow back again
but the heart will never mend.
TONY
My first dog taught me justice,
mercy, and forgiveness.
When I pulled Tony’s tail
he bit me without fail,
and then he’d lick my face.
And thus I learned ‘bout grace.
God gave a dog to Adam
both as consolation
and as compensation
for the loss of Eden.
773౺
I’m upside down in Hell deeper than a dry well.
Oh, but why am I here with crooked financiers,
blasphemers, murderers, thieves, and adulterers?
The Devil came to me and he grinned wickedly.
“You’re here because you failed to live a life unveiled.
You had your mortal faults and kept them in your heart
instead of admitting, instead of correcting.
You, no self-inventor, just let your failings foster.
You never tried to move, get better, or improve.
If you’d been more driven, now you’d be in Heaven.”
And then I woke in sweats,
aware of mortal debts.
EXACTLY!
Eggs white, eggs brown.
The yolk is the same,
exactly the same.
Albumen’s the same,
exactly the same.
White ones, brown ones,
their soul is the same.
