March 16: P

Photo: Gentoo penguins, Antarctica, 2012

Mrs. Possum

She pads with intent

along the top of  our

backyard fence, pointy

nose, sleek tail, just

when night has fallen

or as dawn begins to

break. Sometimes she

carry babies clinging

to her back, first many

finally only two. She

stops and stares at me

then hurries on her way

knowing I will not strike.

I will be back to this with a P poem about penguins!

March 15: O

Photo: Patagonia, Argentina, 2012

Open

My mind is wide open

not just open-minded

but spring-cleaning, 

windows-agape, arms-wide 

open. Focus seems to have

flown away, along with

logic and reason. I hope

they remember to return.

Yes, my mind is wide open.

March 14: N

Photo: Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012

Good Neighbor

In our crowded suburban

world, the good neighbor

knows you well, but

not too well, is close

but gives you space. 

It's an art.

March 13: M

Photo: Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012

More

Give me more

cried the many

more

more 

more

as they fought

and struggled 

hating those

with more

or less.

Abide she said with 

calm smile. The secret

is I have enough.

March 12: L

Photo: Hawaii, 2011

The Ol' Loblolly

The kids splashed that humid

summer day in the loblolly,

under the old pine tree on the

swampy bottomland. Lord, cried

their mother, coming up from

the garden, git yourselves outa

that mud, and clean up 'fore

your daddy gits home. He's

like to feed you to the 'gators.

But she was smiling at her

own memories of lollygagging

not so long ago in the  ol' loblolly 

before her mama wouldn't let her

play with the boys any more.

In case you are wondering: A loblolly is Southern US slang for a mud hole or mire in a swampy area. This was one of my mother's words that would emerge here and there from her growing up in Mississippi.

Not Quite a Meeting of the Minds

The chemist father

surprised by long-haired

son announcing he was 

making a serious study of

logarithms. Memories of

college math classes danced

in his parental head, 

a chip off the old block 

after all. What a surprise.

So do you want to hear some,

asked cool son, shuffling toward

the garage. Puzzled heart swelling, father

followed only to find

son seated with massive drum

sticks in front of a set of hollowed

out logs. This one's from Africa,

said son in a rhythm, and this from

South America. I really love log rhythms.

Mother, watching, sighed. 

March 11: K

Photo: Honduras, 2011

Yes, I Kan

I cannot feed the thousands

but I Kan feed one.

I cannot clothe all those without

but I Kan clothe one.

I cannot build a village

but I Kan provide a brick.

I cannot educate the ignorant

but I Kan teach one.

Yes, I Kan, I Kan, I Kan, I Kan 

and when it's misspelled

I will pay attention and remember.

March 10: J

Photo: Nkandla, South Africa

Justice

Some people deserve more

because they work harder

some less because they

don't. But everyone deserves

the basics: food, shelter,

education, health care.

March 9: I

I am I

In the face of all who 

want to shape me 

I am I

When beautiful people

tell me how to cut my hair

I am I

Replying to those who

want me to think like them

I am I

Dancing my own steps

singing my own songs

I am I

Sitting to read of 

stare into space

I am I

Always inside, 

no matter what

I am I

I, Me and Myself

ignoble, instant, 

interesting, interrelated, 

intense, indented, 

inconsequential, indebted, 

ignored, intelligent, 

idiot, idyl, important, 

immigrant, ivy-covered, 

irritable, irate, impossible,

insignificant, iffy,  

irritating, immediate,

implied, invisible,

insecure, infalible,  

inane, insistent,

important, inspired.

Quite a group,

don't you think?

March 8: H

Photo by Steve Goetz: China, 2005.

Hinks

My earliest shopping

memory is the Hinks

Department Store in

Berkeley. I was young.

we moved when I was

three, but I can still picture

walking with my mother

and father's mother,

along the balcony that

seemed to hang out

at the second floor level

under a very high ceiling.

There seemed to be only

one floor of merchandise,

all viewable from this perch.

Perhaps there was a 

restaurant up there, a

fixture in fine department

stores of the post-WWII period.

And there was a sound,

a sort of muffled buzzing

bell sound, that would 

indicate an announcement

by a female voice. I can

hear that bell sound still. And

they had those vacuum

tubes that carried cylinders 

around the store, very 

modern at the time. 

I wonder if there is

still a Hinks.

March 7: G

Photo: Cathedral garden, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2009

God

Who can know God,

a question for all ages,

since humanity gathered

in caves trying to

explain mysteries of

the world. There have

been many answers,

many who knew with

certainty. But still

there is the question,

who can know God.