We were children riding bicycles
Toward a dark wood, pennants
Streaming from our antennas.
Electronic tethers to the solar plexus
Made me feel a little sick sometimes.
We crouched over a black high-heel
To see what it had to say.
Uncle Joe came up and laughed.
Do you expect that shoe to talk to you?
Embarrassed, we said no although
It sure seemed like that shoe had news.
Little Sis missed her meeting
With Mister Underground. He
Lived in the subway and blackened
His hair and beard to play the devil
Who filled our ears with serious absurdity.
Yet without asking he’d borrow a taxi
To give a young lady a lift.
He used to talk to the meadow grasses,
Converse with creatures and things
In ancient, unremembered tongues,
Then he forgot all about it.
While visiting the bodhisattva in the shadows
I lost a black sandal in a jumble of shoes.
When I found it my footwear was white.
You must be calm and focused, she said.
I shouted, I am calm and focused!
Just somebody please take care of this baby.
New Bedford Falls Ocean Basin
Was a park that used to be under the sea.
Think of what it looks like now.
