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
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