(1915-2001)

                                                                   {With love and admiration to mothers on Mothers' Day}

When her hearing went
She often said,"I can hear you
But I can't tell what you're saying."
At her kitchen table
We watched a storm pound over
The olive orchard--
Sunlight fled the field
Crossed the creek and
Dark filled the window,
Then flashed blinding blue
With thunder to the bone.
When the room unrattled
She laughed, "I heard that.
I just couldn't tell what it said."
I wish again that her hearing
had been better because
I'd love to know.

States Uncertain And Certain

Subatomic particles
Exist outside defined
Gates like thoughts that
Come to those who wait,
Step outside the moment
And remember what
They are made of.

43-Year-Old Crack Up

When Dianne and Veronica saw me
On the front stoop with suddenly no
Mustache, they ran over from their
House in socks and cracked up,
Which caused our own son to crack up,
Which made Norma crack up too.
It was 1971 and we cracked up
Easy, but I grew my mustache
Back so people would take me
Seriously --not sure it worked.

Hymn To A Cosmic Clock

Like a clock,
Time must include
Spring and escapement--
Lest all at once unwind--
In planetary paths, blue iris
Swirls and bearded falls
Under astringent harmonies
Sung in moonlight and sun.
After rain it opens and,
In its time, is done.

Motion And Inertia Are

At every point
Motion and inertia are
Affected directly
Or obliquely by
Every object in
The universe.
To move or stop
Moving is to
Feel it all --all.

Bee Daughter

When she was little,
Learning words,
We would consult the
Garden and see
What was what.
"Bee", I said, and
She repeated:
"Bead" --delighted
Some beads had wings
And flew around.
I never corrected her
And still step outside
And say, "hello bead."
She grew up, flew
Away, but her 
Vocabulary remains.

Big Dang Bang

In our modest station, we hear
Only the inside of
Creation, nothingness eroded, unlike
God, whose first thought 
Exploded --yes, into stars!
So all thought, and ours, is done
As variation on that one.