Grampa's Little Dog

Because my son is allergic to dogs, this was a treat for her, since she always had to bathe and put on fresh clothes after a dog-hugging session. The dogs liked her visits, too, and I was very pleased to find this photo of her with Rylka when I was looking for something else. There is an interesting and serendipitous aspect to having so many digital photo files!

And then I have many text files, too. Here is a poem I wrote more than 20 years ago about a short vacation when I became very interested in birds and really decided to become a birder. With the help of several local Audubon Societies, I did so.

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE 

A very small hard-bodied bug falls

from the lamp onto my shirt.

A dainty purple aster, tough to identify,

lies on the table, milky sap oozing from its stem. 

The sound of someone else's pen

(the clock, the noisy clock)

that humming in my ears, when a thought

brings a rush of blood to the head. 

Stretch out the legs, the muscles,

as when kicking while swimming;

think of the flicker flying overhead

his call unexpectedly soft, high-pitched and sweet. 

Yesterday, a teacher was killed by a driver who made

"erratic lane changes" according to a witness,

and was drunk, though as an assistant district

attorney he should have known better. 

When I took the corn cobs outside to the trash

after dinner, the thrasher warbled from a bush-top

while three goldfinches, tipped upside down,

stuffed themselves with seeds. 

A single orange opuntia flower

blooming past its season, almost hidden by dry weeds:

in this place of dust and dry foliage

only its color gives it away. 

What was that funny phrase that made us laugh?

June Hopper Hymas (unpublished)

I have just broken this into stanzas and it fell quite gracefully into four-line ones, except for that rogue last line. OOPS! This never went up last night, so here it is!