POEMS
FOR MARY'S GARDEN
Richard
Krech
24
pages, hand-sewn
Sebastopol,
2005
IN
THE BACKYARD
It
all begins here. Where you
sit.
Some
of these neighbors
may
be older than I. That tree
is
well over 100 feet tall…
The
stone Buddha facing west
has
a canopy of a bush
and
sits in front of the magnificent tree.
I
notice a small figure standing nearby
appear
to bow, rise again
and
scamper away. The squirrel
ran
up the lemon tree, paused at the sound
of
barking dogs over the fence in other yards
and
retreated back up the big tree.
The
Tibetan prayer flags flapping on the cord
strung
between the big tree and the lemon.
This
back yard
is
a sufficient slice of green
and
calm and beauty
to
satisfy any one.
The
fronds of the big fern, the flowers
purple
blossoms, rocks,
the
old wooden glider by the roses.
The
law of the jungle too
is
practiced here. The squirrel
the
cat, the raccoon and always
the
barking dogs over the fences.
The
sun follows it’s cosmic laws
setting
a minute or so later every day.
The
flash of the setting sun
on
the squirrel’s fur
which
first caught my attention
as
he bowed to the Buddha
could
not happen now…
The
dark blue of evening has come.
Lights
turn on in the houses
of
people.
POETIC
LICENCE APPLICATION
The
string holding the prayer flags has broken.
No
longer connected to the lemon tree
It
trails from the large neighbor
The
colorful flags
undulating
in the morning breeze
Torn-end
of the string caught in a bush.
The
flags free
Sunlight
shining thru them
String
not touching the garden floor.
[This
poem based entirely on fact.
No
object or activity has been changed
due
to application of poetic license.]