wrinkled apple face, her smile
was a frown turned upside
down, her housedresses and aprons
soft and worn with decades,
she made her own bottled
ketchup, if she had dreams
she shelved them in the
dining room breakfront, took care
of four brothers, two sisters
in their ancestral Indiana home
somebody cares about her and
she cares about somebody, they
care about each other and
they care about a baby,
I don’t know much about
them, I should ask more
questions, I think she’s from
Guatemala, the baby they adopted,
their need to care greater
than my need to know
Transylvanian translator, poet
dedicated to a regular life of morning
coffee shops and notebooks, evening
microphones, eternal youth, and writing
poetry of lilting whimsy with
an odd humility that contradicts
his ultimate ambition – to be
Architect of a Surrealistic Universe,
with two gardens of Eden
where he can regularly vanish
so tied to a place,
so identified with that corner
of Massachusetts in the Berkshires,
such a guiding spirit, so compelled
by idealistic visions, so present
to thousands passing through,
so generous, sharing power with
his councils, counseling his campers –
news of his sabbatical in
Tuscany came as a relief
migratory blackbird, she flew out
of the first September 11th’s
dark cloud swirl, then flew
into the smokey ruins of the
second – gifted urban impresario,
mother, painter, potter, shelter,
her grassroots grow wildly in one
community, then transfer to another,
where she could be prime
minister or Pacha mama’s priestess
fourth child, second daughter – bright
and capable, her father called
her “Scooter” – youngest of our
girl gang, but never seen
as pest or hanger-on; instead
we all admired her for riding
her ancient gigantic clunker
of a bike, always standing,
legs too short to reach
the pedals from the seat
after handshakes, after you scratch
through that first thick layer
of sincerity only to find
another layer of sincerity –
a politician is sincerity through and
through, although everything they do
is called a “stunt” – okay,
let’s look at results – the
city works for the majority
a majority of the time