on his Piscean road
to Emmaus to pierce
Kleio’s veil (and all other
linear time illusions)
to comprehend the Nature
beneath nature, the Word
beneath words, his Tao-fish heart
double-frames found impressions:
morning mist steaming
off frozen Silver Lake
affirms fire’s deeper breath;
Canada Geese (warmed
by thermal eiderdown)
brooding over the peach-pink
sun within them find kindled
the sunrise over near-tundra shores
as above, so below;
South Pacific ‘Gooney Birds’
(flocking to test their landing gear
on sand-constructed island
airport runways) speak
to Navy officers –
a little foolishness can’t hurt
we liberate within you
the simply divine fool;
then there’s me kissing
the wrinkle in time crossing
the black Labrador’s
forehead to seal our
friendship – we are blessed
and bewildered, aren’t we?
there’s also me kissing
my cousin blowing out his fourth
birthday cake candles –
a double exposure
featuring great uncles, aunts
and proud grandparents
surrounding us like
smiling specters from a thin place –
a gap in the fossil record
made manifest, the candle light
in their glasses saying,
We are and we are with you!
then there’s another
double exposure
of me in my highchair
kissing a daffodil
back-grounded by the site
of new Mayo architecture –
earth calls us to incarnate;
guiding a live goat-powered
wagon to school, he who nurtures
newborn lambs learns nature’s
first divine language and advice:
surveil Polaris – the shine
that points your right way –
do not judge others to keep
your liberated place;
lessoned by Daedalus
and Babe Ruth (major
players in his lineage)
he blesses his daughter through
Babe’s adage written below
her runaway bunny
five-year old photographed feet:
It is the number of times
you make it home safely that counts
(remember Polaris is home)
maybe she would, maybe she wouldn’t
EDITOR’S NOTE: This poem was selected from entries submitted to our Creative Challenge Series #3: Last Sentences, which required that the last sentence in the text must be used as given.
