Larry's Produce

The market rings with laughter.

In Spanish and German,

Russian and a dozen other tongues

weary children cry

in the mid-morning sun

as old eyes, wise hands

prod peach and mango

mounded peas and beans

looking for any flaw.

Finding none,

they fill their bags

with the fragrant gifts

of this milk-

and-honeyed

land.

(28 June 2014)

Advice to the Candidate

Everyone wants to

be heard! Speak louder than the

rest, fill raucous rooms

with your rancorous

thunder, flail all resistance

to the ground. Your lies

will win the night; but 

in the clear morning, be still.

Listen as small birds

rest lightly on sway-

ing branches. With piercing song

they paint a new day.

(5 Feb. 2012)

We Must Be Grateful

"For all God's gifts there must be in us a response of 

thanksgiving and happiness and joy." 

Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation.

***

We must be grateful

when the old ones leave.

Forsaking the March sun,

they brush off tender, white blossoms.

Past the fleeing migrations,

they exhale their final, tainted breath.

Rising from earthen bones

in deep silence, new hymns intone

of thanksgiving and joy

and home.

(28 Nov 2013)

_________________________
Dedicated to my aunt, Sister Rachel Willett, who died today, June 2, 2016, at the age of 94.

Image: Stephen J. Kaltenbach, "Portrait of My Father"  Crocker Museum. Acrylic on canvas