Nuthatch
What if a sleek, grey-feathered nuthatch
flew from a tree and offered to
perch
on your left shoulder, accompany you
on all your journeys?
Nowhere fancy,
just the brief everyday walks, from garage
to house, from
house to mailbox, from
the store to your car in the parking lot.
The
slight pressure of small claws
clasping your skin, a flutter of
wings
every so often at the edge of vision.
And what if he never asked
you to be
anything? Wouldn't that be so much
nicer than being alone? So
much easier
than trying to think of something to say?
The Raccoon News, on assignment for this seemingly leisurely gathering,
saw the import of it and ran a copy of one of its photos to mail to
Uncle Norman, for his souvenirs.
It was done.
It was a beautiful warm and sunny day with blue skies and billowing white clouds.
Wis and I decided to have lunch at Christina's, back in Waukesha.
An overall delightful time was being had and we parted with a firm handshake
back at the Avalon where Wis resides.
.......
Unbeknownst to us,
- ? -
at church
- where we hadn't attended though it was our custom -
shocking word was circulating among the to be bemourned, knit congregation
that a young member, Kyle Kiser, met his own terminus
in northern Wisconsin in an auto accident
the preceding night.
.......
To this issue of the Saturday Raccoon, therefore,
we write an old-school journalist's
30
with sympathies to the beloved Kiser family.
.......
Radio
I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark
"Radio" by David Lehman, from New and Selected Poems. © Scribner Poetry, 2013
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark
"Radio" by David Lehman, from New and Selected Poems. © Scribner Poetry, 2013
