Bee Here Now

I watched a bumblebee

in the paloverde tree

sampling sugars from small yellow flowers.

And for a while

there was no history 

except as regarded the lineage of the bee.

March 15, 2022 (rediscovered 2024)

Herewhere

A casual coffee meeting for a job candidate, get to know you kind of gathering.

We started talking about names, and how three men in the office are named John, well, one is a Jonathan.

Somehow the question of Beatles' names came up:

"Yes," said one person, "there is a John... I don't know the rest. Wait: is Ringo one of them?"

Cognitive dissonance

How old am I?

One of the other Johns, a week older than I,

we made eye contact checking our internal calendars

for historical structure and context:

Are we set in another column now?

How could the Beatles not have carried over?

They made guesses at the other Beatles' names.

John said, "...Paul... ..." which led them to...

naming the Spice Girls.

I exclaimed:

"George Harrison!"

(There is no comparison).

"Georrrrge..." one said; the name had struck a familiar chord.

The madness of this world aside,

the plastic and the politics and the

unrest and forced emigrations and the

hashtag me too men and the 

murderers and the 

people taking selfies with wild zoo animals and getting mini-mauled and the

dictators and there

is a lot to know about this world

and much to keep track of 

and history to know.

Children, listen.

Once in a great while,

chance meetings can make

relationships that fall into place

with such grace

as to bring something wonderful

beyond measure.

March 11, 2019, rediscovered 2024

Gift from the Gray

Toward the window:

what is that funny sound

crackling against the pane

it taps in rapid staccato

what phenomenon? It's the rain!

It seems that I forget it happens

between dry lengths of day to days

and even as the clouds gather

habitual thinking says

expect nothing. So joy ensues

when the song begins--

clapping introduction to a hymn 

of falling, refreshing

rain.

Let the 

soothing 

soak 

in.

(From the Found Poetry collection, From March 3, 2021)