Friday, April 01, 2011

Ends of an Ocean

The cherry trees bloomed while my back was turned.
Today pink petals were drifting among the rocks,
boulders brown and angular as neglected teeth,
engraved with the haiku of exile.
A glimpse out a train window
of a home rolling backward out of sight--
chipped now into stone with a steel-tipped chisel.

Meanwhile a couple was being photographed
in a bridal dress and a natty suit.
Holding each other under the flowering trees
and drinking from opposite sides of a fountain
like their parents, sipping from opposite ends of an ocean.

I thought the rocks had turned to a row of old women
wiping drops of Oregon rain
from their stone faces.
I wanted to line up a row of pebbles at their feet
and say "Here, Grandmothers,
here are your grandchildren."

Collection available! Knocking from Inside

1 comment:

ninotaziz said...

Poignant.