neumenon
the nannies are walking
side by side, wheeling
other peoples children thru
the neighbourhood pushing
the strollers ahead while they talk
into cell phones not
to each other, in the soft
syllables ayequelindo lindolindo
of their own language,
on the farm a foal
wins his first race by a nose,
shakes off the caul ,
hauls ass rises to the mares,
insistent whicker, whicker nudge,
flanks life, pushes, suckles.
in the grocery store
two girls laugh
in the identifiable way
of women pushing
another to the edge
of the social circle
sheshesheshe-said
rumouring spring storms
in girl giggles
‘reputation cleanup in aisle four’
a little brown bird turns
her eggs beneath her
breast of down calls
morning up , morning up
pushes her charges into place
turns one out rearranges
accepts an offering from
her mate, and waits
everywhere, colour claps
its appreciation
as life pushes its luck.
beneath the gathering canopies
the blooms race hard to complete their
performance before time shakes
them down and shade crowns
hallelujah, hallelujah,
summer’s new installation.
Jeopardy
“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in” From "Anthem" by Leonard Cohen
Alex you are such a card
in your perfect suit of perfect questions
without context or discussion
I must wonder why you are not
a category for selection.
And if you expand as you will
with your careful little codicils,
to offer background
beyond The Question
I must remind you of the rules
the question is WHO ASKED YOU?
The riddling is the answer
and the answering is the question
Alex just one time I’d like
for the sake of argument
to pick “the hot seat for 500”
and ask you if you sweat.
Don’t you ever think it neat
to be geniused with a cheat sheet
with all the questions you might need
when its time for final jeopardy
and the final round depends
on whether you won just enough to wager
or whether you wagered just enough to win.