Six years ago my first exchange student, Kornpanod (Mink), from Thailand, joined my life. Recently, she came to visit me for a month.
Six years ago she graced my life
joy filled beauty.
Now back with me briefly with love
exploring, riding Rosie, laughing.
Iris, blackfoot daisies, catmint, salvia,
asters, penstemon
springtime flowers carpeting my heart
We sat around the fire
ALL of us
on The Roof of Africa,
the sign stating
“The Highest Bar in Africa”
at 3,260 meters.
We sat around the fire
All of us,
the British owner gone,
forbids natives to sit
with tourists.
We sat around the fire
ALL of us.
Shades of brown, black, cream,
peach, humanity.
I, for one, grateful for
the owner’s absence.
Whose country is it anyway?
I know I promised a haiku every Sunday. However, while I was outside with my horse, Rosie, this kept running through my mind:
Leading Rosie by her mane
no halter, no lead rope, nothing
clicking my tongue, encouraging
Rosie’s such a good girl!
Blackfoot daisies, corydalis grace green pastures
springtime wonders
tiny blossoms of joy winking at an azure sky.
Blank, white paper
stares at me,
sitting here eating a
left over Subway sandwich,
reading Sky Bridge by
Laura Pritchett,
avoiding my writing commitment.
This book surprises me,
makes me think of my students,
some poor, trailer housed,
gun toting, hard scrabble,
simultaneously smart and ignorant.
Their idea of rich includes
any house over 2000 square feet,
stylish, elegant clothes, land.
My brain swirls thoughts, images:
What can it all mean, this life?
Joy, a hurting beauty?
Looking out the windows,
listening to the West Texas wind,
I ask myself again:
What can it all mean?
Three students mad at other students:
in stream-of-conscious essay one
tells me,
“I want to punch ___T____ and ___J_____ in the face.”
Two others allude, avoid the overt.
I must “fix” this for them.
Senioritis.
“If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.” Spinoza
Christians went to the Holy Land
to claim it back. Crusades.
Moslems fought Moslems
Sunni against Shia
Sufis outcast or revered
Hafiz, Rumi
No middle ground
No compromise
Centuries gone
New technology
the only change.
No one learned
listened to the past
to the humane
voices in the wind.
She remembers nothing.
Head vibrates,
fingers tremble
heart thumps.
Her brain hangs on
one big thorn on a
mesquite tree.
She cannot cry,
looks at pestules on
dry, blotchy skin.
Her brain hangs on
one big thorn on a
mesquite tree.
She tries to remember.
Feet walk on
broken shards
eyes crimson,
silently cries.
Her brain hangs on
one big thorn on a
mesquite tree.
Sun filters through junipers
wind whispers
mockingbirds sing mating songs.
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