Within
this collection of twenty-six titles, reside the majority of my
family based poems. Each one explores the effects of family, both
positive and negative, and how they effect the person you grow into
becoming.
Your Little Green Man
-To my brother and his son.
I see your son deep – in the earth,
his small shovel biting into – then turning black soil
sun-side-up – it waits for seed and a long-cool-drink.
He is a little green man,
carrying on the tradition of our grandfather
who taught us the language of earth.
We watched his crevassed hands
move knowingly through soil,
through tassels of sweet corn and into the sky –
weaving vines of tall-pole-peas
through baling-twine stretched pole to pole.
We listened – as he shared quiet words
about the cycle of nurture and harvest.
We each became fluent in the language of weather,
learned the ancient art of water-witching,
came to understand the nature of love.
You have sown well,
teaching your little green man
the oldest language.
Someday – when he has grown into a man,
he will share with his own son,
eager to converse with black earth and worm.
I look at your son – our grandfather still lives.
