Ice cream later

"...The fourth child wonders: What makes poems poems?
The fifth one asks: Which of them is your favorite?
The sixth one asks me: Is there ice cream later?
The seventh child asks: Is a poem dreaming?..."

From "Reading to the Children" by Herbert Morris

Rx: More light

"...As when the meteor passed
In the early morning, and, fading, threw
A sudden glaring into my room like a flash from a hunter’s firepan. ..."

From "The Heavenly Doctor" by T.R. Hummer

Divided

"...all I really do besides write these poems
is allow my mind to wander while I drive.
There it goes, down the arroyo,
through manzanita and Mormon tea. ..."

From "Cruising 99" by Garrett Hongo

Run away

"At night we will set our poems
adrift in ginger ale bottles
each with a clamshell rudder
each with a piggyback spider..."

From "Running Away Together" by Maxine W. Kumin

***

It's hot. About 101 degrees in heat-stroked Austin, Texas.

And I am underwater on the "things to do and things to handle" list.

But, as ever, I'm glad you stopped by.

It smelled like rain

"...Home where I walk out on the thin page
of night, without waving or giving myself away,
and return with my words burning like fire in the grate."

From "Home Fire" by Linda Parsons Marion

***

Am off to work a trade show, then back to work in Austin and back to present for my art history class, then off to work a different trade show, then back to work in Austin and on to finish my art history course. (The class ends June 30.)

I long for time to do nothing but drive around with a camera next to me...but it won't happen for at least two or three more weeks.

I hope all is well with you and yours, and I'll catch you ASAP.

Whichever one

"...the evening reverses itself, we’ll push out
onto the pond,
or onto the reflection of the pond,
whichever one is eternal"

From "Time Problem" by Brenda Hillman

Before a storm

"...just after supper,
Unseasonable hail in huddles across the porch,
The dogs whimpering,
thunder and lightning eddying off toward the east..."

From "Looking Around" by Charles Wright

***

And so it did.

Slept most of the day, entangled in dreams of Hunan-flavored Moon Pies.

Off to join some friends for fajitas -- and if you're in the US, have a great Memorial Day weekend!