Snapshots for 10th October 2007

This day is too gray
for profundity. I woke
to roofers hammering,
shingles flying past
my window; both dogs
quietly asleep, pressed
against my knees.
The birches are a shower
of gold, with a few
withered brown leaves,
holding, holding on.

woke up, got out of bed
not a snap
inside my head ...

asked
'Anny, got any?'
'what's the trick, Patrick?'
'where to dig, Doug?'
'beautiful facts, Max ...'
'do they rise like dough, Joe?'
'sharin' sunshine, Sharon ... '
'cool and nice, Candice'
'Caleb, yours flow and ebb'
'play it again, Ken'
'cool jacket, Janet'
'on the job, Bob'
'tres bon, Jon'

went inside
and had a smoke -
somebody spoke
and I went into a dream ...

snap on
the west
coast
snap toast
nest the most
no. cal
number snap
bummer
pal pest
um murmur
no yes
out west
again-
st.
street saint
straight
snap
ain't that
one word
y'heard
who snaps
last

when
the ink
in his pen
realised
intuitively
that he was
going to
write yet
another poem
it understood
the threat
to the world
to civilisation
and it heroically
self sacrificingly
clogged itself
up on the spot

Such a dream he'd never thought
to have: so many years apart,

he and she, weren't theirs
closed books, their shared histories?

Their two adult children
showed even-handed affection.

This meeting, it seemed her prolonged
anger with him might have faded.

On once-contested territory
they watched from a balcony

sunset's glory darkening
over a river valley.

Below, someone ­ two someones ­
caught their attention:

they were about to see
emerging from the darkness

hand in hand
their two lost children,

the 'terminated' one,
the 'miscarried' one.

All those years had not
been stolen from them! ­

elsewhere they'd had to endure
and make lives for themselves.

Now they were moving this way,
about to reveal themselves

in some other glory.
What might they say?

'We sensed we had a part
in dooming your partnership'? ­

'inadvertent, of course;
mostly it was your own feelings

undefined, unexpressed,
finding darker outlets.

No, we can't stay.'
He still had nothing to say.

Soon gone; without his even
saying to her 'did you see?' -

nor her any word to him.