One heron greets us on the path, exultant
with a crawdad in its beak, and three white ducks
who won’t shut up, and waddle an irate retreat,
(and whom Debbie has taken to torturing a bit,
bounding with Michal in her arms to disrupt
the seriousness of their communion)
and then, always, the same old man in the cowboy hat
passes us while we dawdle by the reeds.
He mutters Morning and we shout it back to him,
our voices ringing loud and clear, and as one.

Saul Nadatas last blog post..Quick Study

Kellen
Not Walter
And I go get Chinese food
He is about to tell me
That he is in love
With my sister-in-law
Who he is secretly dating
Except
There are no secrets
No secrets
In this family
Which I have told him
Over and over
But he doesn’t understand

I try to help him out
I tell him
Wrap it
Every time
Without exception
Because after three kids
With three different daddies
One of them in jail
It is clear that she
Cannot protect herself

Two years later
I attend his daughter’s first birthday
He holds her like a prize
Face forward
Pointing her like a laser
With wide eyes
And wider ears
Soon he will be an in-law
And I will be best man
At their wedding
That is if the mother of his child
Ever gets a divorce
From babydaddy
Number two
Good luck Kellen

Tip:
when you can’t write,
lie on the floor a while.

O.K.

First vacuum the floor.
Then put cats outside
not for the hair shedding
but because if they’re in
they’ll come and lie
on top of you
and that wasn’t
in the instructions.

If you have a carpet
with ancient stains
resistant to vacuum cleaners
and even professional expertise,
put down a pillow.
Lay an old towel down first
to keep the pillow clean.
Also find a large rug
to go under the rest of your body.
It’ll make you feel safer
less contaminated.

Speak to husband.
Make sure he knows
not to walk on you.
It would give him
such a scare.
Maybe arrange chairs
beside where you intend
to be lying, so he can’t
stumble across your body
before he notices it
stretched out there.
Stick a big sign
on one of the chairs.

Take phone off hook
or make sure husband’s aware
he is the one who has to answer it.
Likewise for front door.
Leave it open so he’ll hear
if anyone knocks.
Therefore don’t lie in living room
where you might be observed
through the open doorway
by callers or passing strangers.
Find another floor.

Get comfortable
on your pillow and your rug.
But not so comfortable
you’ll go to sleep –
lie on your back.
Get up again and email John.
You need to find out
if your eyes should be
closed or open
and whether it helps
to plug your ears.

While awaiting reply
lie on the floor
go with the flow
just do it
what have you got to lose?
And pretty soon
before you know
you’ll have a whole poem
out of that one
little tip!

I would just like to note something not evident from reading her individual poems – that Dorothy Porter is one of the pioneers in this country of the verse novel.