DEDICATIONS, PLEDGES, COMMITMENTS. For the past. For my own path. For surprises. For mistakes that worked so well. For tomorrow if I'm there. For the next real thing. Then for carrying it all through whatever is necessary. For following the little god who speaks only to me. --William Stafford

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

the wonderful syncopated robot pig

is born in the basement, birthed
of brother allred's restless dreams

his pig iron heart opens wide
when his master calls

the great man who framed him
moves him forward

with a wave of his thumb
the merest flick of a switch

he waits for the electric circuit
that completes him

some invisible beam of joy
he stirs, lurches, shuffles

and spins, his shoulders and
hind quarters of fasteners

sockets and set-screws
gyrate and whine and his fine

metal bones begin to meander
with an electric grace

in a semblance of life itself
here boy, brother allred calls

come! and the pig comes
knowing in the marrow of his

riveted bones that of all the rare
creatures brother allred has made

with all their bright voltaic
tesla bolts and ball-bearings

brother allred loves him best
and deep in his soul of

threaded gauges and clamps
he knows that he will dwell

in the tender mercies of
his maker forever and forever

amen

.

About Me

My photo
1. In dreams I am often young and thin with long blond hair. 2. In real life I am no longer young, or thin, or blonde. 3. My back hurts. 4. I hate to sleep alone. (Fortunately I don't have to!) 5. My great grandfather had 2 wives at once. 6. I wish I had more self-discipline. (I was once fired from a teaching position in a private school because they said I was "too unstructured and undisciplined." --Who, me??? Naaaahhh....) 7. I do not blame my parents for this. Once, at a parent-teacher conference, the teacher told me my little boy was "spacey." We ALL are, I told her. The whole fan damily is spacey. She thought I was kidding. I wasn't. 8. I used to travel with a theater reperatory company. My parents weren't happy about this. 9. My mother was afraid that I would run off and paint flowers on my cheeks and live in a commune, and grow vegetables. I once smoked pot. ONE TIME. 10. I don't drink or smoke. (Or swear, much. Well, I drink milk, and water, and orange juice, and stuff. Cocoa. I love Pepsi.) 11. Most of my friends are invisible. 12. I am a poet and a writer. All of my writing on these pages is copyrighted. Borrowing (without acknowledgment) is a sin.