He cleans the base of the skis
with a fine, steel brush to remove
the old wax, his body swaying
above the ski, tip to tail, tip to tail,
so the micro hairs on the base
will lay down in the direction of travel
on snow. A fine copper brush
cleans it more. His movements
are quick, precise, a dance
that now comes naturally.
The only music is the sound
of the brushes, the sound
of his breath. There is no
laughter, no joking,
not even a smile, but
sometimes on winter nights
I walk toward the light
in the garage and watch
his body intent on its work,
and I feel the quiet joy
he finds in preparation
and the work of foundation,
and his joy seeps into me,
soft as the darkness
that holds the garage,
deep as the space
that holds us all.
Posts Tagged ‘marriage’
Contact Joy
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged joy, marriage, skiing, work on April 1, 2022| 10 Comments »
One at the Confluence
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged communion, marriage, poem, poetry, rivers, union on November 16, 2018| 2 Comments »
for Amy and Devin
two rivers
become one water—
sound of ten thousands hands clapping
Dear Abby Offers Advice to the Newly Weds on Halloween
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged marriage, poem, poetry, pumpkin on October 31, 2017| Leave a Comment »
every pumpkin knows
you need just enough air
for the candle to burn,
just enough shelter
to keep the flame alive
One Silver Split Key Ring
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged finders keepers, found poem, innocence, loving the world, marriage, poem, poetry on February 8, 2016| 3 Comments »
a found poem
mom, she says,
I found this ring I’m wearing
on the ground—
do you think it means
the world and I are married?
Just Before Our Twentieth Anniversary
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged love, marriage, poem, poetry on October 16, 2015| 4 Comments »
He knows how to read the coming weather
from the direction of the wind.
He knows from the shape of the clouds
when the storm will start.
All I knew, when I met him,
was that I wanted our love to last forever.
I did not understand what forever meant.
Nor did I know much about love,
though I thought I did.
I am not so better at reading the heart,
but I do know, watching him watch the sky,
that twenty some years is not enough
and that love is what we are here to share
and that after seeing all those mare’s tails
this morning, there is a storm a-coming,
and that after some time
the wind will come from the north
and there will be calm after that.
After Waking
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bear, dream, fear, marriage, poem, poetry on July 1, 2015| 2 Comments »
Beneath our boat
a swimming bear—
I tell myself to be afraid
but I’m too delighted
by its brown body,
elongated and sleek
moving like a wave itself
in the clear, clear water.
A marriage, too,
is a boat. Or is it
the bear?
Or is it the man
and the woman
in the boat,
watching beneath them
the most exquisite
dangerous thing,
something that could kill them
but chooses instead
grace.
After Reading the Korean Folktale About Why There are Earthquakes, I Think of Marriage
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged earthquake, falling, Korean folktale, love, marriage, poem, poetry on December 2, 2014| 1 Comment »
It all falls down eventually.
The ivory tower, the concrete tower,
the mountains, the mesas, the happily ever,
the everything we know. Even heaven
begins to sag eventually. First one corner.
One corner is enough to alarm the king.
It all falls down eventually.
“Heaven is sagging!” he shouts
to his servants. “We must keep it
from toppling!” And so he commands,
as kings often do, his workers to make it right.
“Build me a pillar of copper, red,
and place it under the sagging floor
so heaven doesn’t fall.”
My dear, I have been the king.
I have tried to construct
a pillar, a grand one, to hold up any depressions
that slant our love. When we list, I build
the pillar higher. For a time it feels right.
But the earth beneath the red copper pillar
was only made of earth. And it only worked
for a while before the ground gave way
beneath the weight of paradise.
It all falls down eventually.
The king wandered the streets of heaven
in search of the strongest man.
Finding him, he cried, “Heaven is collapsing!”
And he ordered the man to stand on the earth,
feet wide, spine tall. He said, “Hoist
that copper pillar on your shoulder. Now stay.”
My dear, I have wanted to be the strongest man.
I have hoisted and held the pillar until
my bones have buckled, my spine warped.
It all falls down eventually.
After a while, even a strong man’s shoulder
grows tired and sore. After a while, even
the strongest man must shift a burden
to his other shoulder. And though he is careful,
though he wills himself to be solid,
the earth quakes, it trembles as he shifts
his weight. And though heaven stays up,
things on earth fall down.
My love, I am not the strongest man.
I have fallen down and brought heaven
down with me. My love, I have dropped the pillar.
I have seen the crash of paradise and felt
the weight of its rubble. I have seen the vines
grow up green amidst the wreckage.
We have walked these ruins together.
It is easier here to laugh. I’m no longer
frightened of falling. Heaven is no place for us.
Here, are your shoulders tired, too? Come.
Let’s lie down in this grass. Feel how the earth
reaches up to meet us. Oh love, what is this
beauty, I am trembling.
I Could Not Have Imagined It This Way
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged love, marriage, poem, poetry on October 29, 2014| 1 Comment »
All those plans we had for what we thought
love was supposed to be—all those directions
that someone else wrote that we followed step by step,
all those destinations we knew we just had to reach,
all those trails and roads and paths,
they were all dead ends.
It was innocent enough. Still, when standing at the edge
of a cliff that was supposed to be happily ever after, it is hard
to not want to blame someone.
And after the days of vertigo, and after the nights
of told-you-so and after the years of why and how
and taking an eraser to all the plans,
and after the shedding and after the seeking
and after we stopped believing in believing,
and after the masks fell off and our hands were emptied
love showed up right here, growing like a volunteer seed.
Who could say what it is, what it will become?
So we nourish it together, marveling as it grows into itself.
The Long Marriage
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged dark, light, love, marriage, poem, poetry on October 22, 2014| 2 Comments »
If the night were not dark enough,
not dark enough and too short,
then we perhaps would not
have had the patience to find again
in each other the light,
a tiny light, but still light enough,
enough to draw us close again—
that small light in the other
the only light that can lead us home.