The climber

My twenty-first spring
I was away
when dad cut down the tulip tree
by the kitchen window

Upon finding out, I asked mom
how come no one told me
so it would not be a shock
seeing bare grass
instead of my old friend

My mother was a happy soul
a loving, talking, laughing
optimistic companion, and
she did not understand

Forty springs later
I doubt I fully know myself
why I was grieved
doing the dishes, and
looking out the old window

Monday random

• I am more productive in the moderate weather of September.
• Even when the mid-day is hot, I know it will be cooler in a few hours.
• Then there is the other side of the coin, and the daydreaming that comes with such weather.
• Spring is similar.
• I recall a comment from my third grade teacher about how , ‘Rose would get a good deal more work done, if she were not looking out the window so much.’

Family Tree

We married our mothers, and revered our fathers
those others with the deeper voices
like distant stars, whether in Italy, or behind
the newspaper print screen, or
climbing trees and rooftops;
It happened, though it was not planned
as there was no plan. Who plans passion?
That exploding, ever-pulsing
hopeful drive that brought us 900 miles away
from where you said you would never leave
to where I said that I would never return.
All of us, and our first-born, married
the one that over-fed us on meatballs and melancholy
prodding us with a baguette, or a stick, when
called for, that one, she was good, and died too soon.
So we passed on the legacy of Sunday gravy
and beat-up hearts, and all that loyalty, stuffed
into cabbage leaves and tortillas, and our love
which is yours, still, and always will be.

Wednesday Random

• Today I will make an apple pie, the last one of the season. The farmer’s market is closed now, and that means no more autumn apples.
• The ones I have are already showing signs of having been in cold weather
• but still very sweet.
• In the Midwest United States, we have had many sunny days, and some cold days, but no snow yet, at least in Illinois.
• I know it has to come, and I know the farmers need it, but right now, I am enjoying this extended fall, and lots of sunshine.

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The wind howls again, but
not in my language
I do not know, if
the breeze is keening
or wailing with joy