Awake from a dream
of failure as a college professor,
I get up to pee.
Settling back into bed warmth,
I find that in my absence
demons slipped in, and they mean
business. Tonight, they employ mind
swirlers and leg tremors,
leaving brain and guts wrenched.
What’ll I do what’ll I do?
Work, relationship, future–all shit.
With effort, I herd them
from mind to belly. […]
Caitlin, a down-winder,
lay dying in the hospital.
Who thought of it first?
Let’s do the wedding now!
Scott was there, license
in hand. Witnesses?
Here’s Jan, visiting from our office,
and Caitlin’s oncologist makes two.
I have my Universal Life minister
certificate. Afterward we cried,
but then Scott went out
for a six-pack and we toasted
the newlyweds. No beer for
Caitlin, but she […]
From a tentative reference
in a tangential discussion
a confidence is taken,
a truth revealed.
A work mate has leukemia.
Churning, I must share
this news with a trusted
one. Hesitantly, I speak
in a darkened room.
Soon we will all
know.
(No. 74 in a series of responses to Han-shan’s Songs of Cold Mountain)
Recently I heard of an old fellow,
a lawyer, who worked until he was
almost 100 years old.
Then he had an accident, a fall.
He died during his convalescence.
They say the cause of death
was unspecific; that most likely
he died of a broken
routine.
There is no other life.
(With apologies to Gary Snyder.)
