Pathfinder
for JG, teacher & friend
you walk ahead
always by one decade
you lead the way
you challenge the ruts,
question rocks, accept the peaks,
and cross deep valleys
I watch you manage the terrain of years
you, named June for your birth month,
this year you celebrate ninety
you live, love, loose your partner,
hold your dying daughter's hand,
count gratitude in grandchildren
you read, write, teach, endure
poems&books mark the trail
you travel years with grace
I survey my coming Eighties
with hopeful determination
knowing some possibilities
you have been my road guide
for the Sixties & Seventies
if you can do the Eighties, I can
***
One Red Leaf
after Dorianne Laux's "Fast Gas"
"wireless call"
announces the landline.
I pick up the receiver.
"I'm Dylan," says a voice.
"I can't find your house.
Is the driveway gravel?
Is the house yellow?"
"No" & "No," I say,
"You're at Mount Nebo Church
one block away.
We're at the top of the hill,
across from a white mailbox,
down a long-paved driveway."
He says, "But I was there
and couldn't see a house."
I tell him, "We're in the woods."
Dylan the plumber
appears to be twenty,
an oak sturdy boy,
dark brown curls,
almost black eyes,
black beard stubble.
a huge blue&red tattoo
covers his forearm
in concentration camp colors.
he shuffles in slipper socks
from faucet to sink
checking water temperature,
oblivious to artwork on walls,
no slant-wise glance
at custom furniture,
but the water is hot now
since we reset the breaker.
two installed switches later,
a tip in his pocket,
Dylan rips off the red booties,
leaves in a blaze.
"one red leaf" stumbles outside,
wind-blown youth:
"...the kind of beauty
that asks to be noticed...."
tumbles away without seeing
to the next hour
to the next job
to the next lost house
and to the next...
https://www.verse-virtual.org/2026/August/bruck-ingrid-2026-august.asp?p=2&n=4
Date Published: August 1, 2026