Night Bloomers

AT THE END OF THE DAY

--A love poem

In bed with Karen, and the sound
of a train going through a small town,
through this bedroom, right through to us
in our altered states. Someone's
left-over firecrackers
from the 4th of July, snapping
Bang, bang, bang, to get it over with.
Karen's head resting in the crook of my arm.
Did you have a good week?
I'm kind of in a trance when I'm here.
"Did you sleep in this house as a child--
I mean, this room? This bed as a little girl?"
"No. Mary and Arvin didn't live here then.
I'd stay with Aunt Marjorie, Mary's mom,
or Aunt Edna, or one of my mom's sisters."
The embracing arms all real.
They were looking for their sister's eyes
in the brown-eyed child with curls--
the one who looked like them
but came from some other place.
You were already charmed.
How could they know the story?
This would be mine to discover.

Jim Bodeen
9 July--14 July, 2005
New Ross, Indiana--Yakima, Washington


HOLLYHOCK DOLLS

--for Elaine & Karen

Pinch the blossom at the stem
Upside down, the multi-layered
bodice of green leaves
covers the modern woman
and the antebellum debutante.
Eight petals sweep the dance floor.
Now take the bud
and pinch it, carefully
leaving the stem in place.
Poke the stem into an upturned blossom.
Her face glows.
Her two eyes, demur--
natural and wild.
This turbaned woman
lines driveways, coy
about her alley roots.
Pinch another blossom
to give her skirts
south of the border color.
Women love fleeting moments.
Young girls take their cues
from grandmothers
showing them how
to dress and play and be.

Jim Bodeen
July 16, 2005--July 13, 2010


EVENING PRIMROSE

Night bloomers
A weed in a fence row
Yellow blossoms

Without manking
it wouldn't be an issue
but we're here

We better have fence rows

Mostly solitary
in upper leaf axils--
rarely in clusters
opening near sunset

Prairie evening, Desert, Missori Primrose--

What impulse helps you open?
What safety in darkness?

Insects call you from night grasses

Jim Bodeen
July 15, 2005--July 13, 2010