a distant point of light
in the family constellation –
not a black sheep, really, but
with dark curls and broad
build, a huggable teddy bear,
everyone’s a friend, except he
doesn’t visit home much – avoids
his parents’ hemispheres of influence,
not that easy because they
extend from north to south
seemed okay – a psych tech
at the state hospital, just
married with a pretty wife
and baby on the way –
once they moved in, I
realized there was no escaping
from his horde of druggie
friends – they descended like a
plague and cooked up unspeakable
recipes in our mutual garage
“never let the innate perversity
of inanimate objects frustrate you
permanently” – never let the innate
perversity of animated high school
physics students obscure the teaching
skill and graceful conduct of
our guide through Newton’s laws –
she was impossible to frustrate,
even though we weren’t the
brightest lightbulbs in the lot
four careers and not done yet –
currently a teacher/blacksmith
well familiar with the heavy
anvil, tortured heat and vigorous
pounding needed to transform the
iron bar – crafted in the fire
of broken marriages and
bones, used to dance, now
watches all his dear Pandoras
carrying jars pregnant with hope
disembodied poet on the loose bom-
barding small town open mikes,
newsweeklies suffering the slings
of his barbed brush – please tar
and feather me with language,
comrade, lord of squids, traveling
with your sidekick, Elvis – nice
to meet you (note to
self: next time you see
this one, let’s get real)
what’s it like to live
immersed in history – personal, political,
town, state, nation, new country
and old, situated rarely in
this complex matrix, aware yet
mobile, moving with the poise
of a professor, polished, Polish,
integrating pose with flow in
daily immigration – opening this envelope
(within an envelope (within another))
strawberry secrets underneath her cloak,
lead strawberry of the strawberry
brigade supported by a phalanx
of appliances, a strawberry waffle
maker, luggage cart, an SUV,
conferences in the parking lot,
making decisions on the stairs,
questions with a thin veneer –
I ask “Who are you?”
and “Why are you here?”