SALMON LADDER DREAMS
Notebook cautions—here--
Arm plunged pit deep in compost
End-stopped fragments hear
Breathe where oxygen listens
Gather pueblo’s third-ear elder sky
Jim Bodeen
14-16 September 2024
JUST AFTER 4 AM
JUST AFTER 4 AM
“And all that it required was single-minded obedience.”
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Karen asks me,
What time is it?
What are you doing up?
Looking for my phone.
I got up to read
and didn’t have
my notebook
or my phone.
Didn’t want the phone
only wanted it charged.
Here it is at the foot of the bed
and my notebook
was in my backpack.
Now there’s this page
and Bonhoeffer in my hands.
Jim Bodeen
13 September 2024
SITTING WITH MY BOOK BEFORE LUNCH
SITTING WITH MY BOOK BEFORE LUNCH
My fingers smell like cilantro
something from nothing
like celery, like green onions
My fingers smell like compost
and they’ve been there
deep into all that’s rich
in browns and greens this knowing
this remembering so clearly
on these fingers these earth
places, the soil and the body
these smells from the sea
the salt of it all in the salads
for Karen the crab and the shrimp
and everything tossed
in the garlic
rimmed around the bowl
all of it storming the nostrils
only part of this reaching me
the most beautifully titled movie
ever made must--
oh! even that word--
must be
The Scent of A Woman
Maria de los
Angeles
wraps herself in a canvas
cut from a painting
All these kitchen memories
swirling through long marriage
come from my fingers
Jim Bodeen
12-13 September 2024
VANCE'S SEPTEMBER 5TH WALK
VANCE’S SEPTEMBER 5TH WALK
Those bearing down cylinders of light
might be too bright for the situation we’re in
so bold and red and blue shiny like that
still there’s something ominous about them
like maybe the operators are not my people
the ovals now, those red ovals
inside the blue circle
those ovals know the totems
from Haida Gwaii
The salmon see the shadow of the man
Maybe maybe not
be wary nevertheless
those eyes
those eyes
that fur
those eyes
that fur though
wild
course to touch
Don’t know
Don’t know
those human beings and those cylinders
Jim Bodeen
5 September 2024
THE DATE SHE BECAME A NUMBER
THE DATE SHE BECAME A NUMBER
She smiles as I place the cupcake
on her plate, handing her the plastic
fork wrapped in a napkin.
Young, attractive, personable,
her tattoo mid-level
between her neck and breasts,
but too close to the neck to hide
with a buttoned blouse.
Six numbers—two for the month--
two for the day of the month--
two for the year--
dashes between the numbers
Jim Bodeen
10 September 2024
WEDDING SONG FOR ARNO AND JAZMIN
WEDDING SONG FOR ARNO AND JAZMIN
Each be other’s comfort kind
--Gerard Manley Hopkins
Now you will feel no rain,
or each of you will be a comfort to the other
--Apache Song
Geologist and geology
time and the stone’s foundation
Public health and justice meeting
One voice from two
young love in a September wedding
How perfect you two are
What was just now two is one
No you or I but only you and I
Quilted now, a fabric somehow turned
What love sees in the two of you is you
Already with one life half-forgotten
What was unaware before finds hope and care
Blessed is the man Arno
Blessed is the woman Jazmin
Imitating Christ is good in every way
Grown beyond yourselves in the saying
of your love--Blessed be two persons
promising to live for one another--
What great demanding force
become delight--Not a spirit--Not a bird--
You make a city great--You two,
romancing, two becoming lovers--
Becoming faithful, you discover faith--
Surprising yourselves becoming one--
Such happiness in every vote you cast.
Jim Bodeen
7 September 2024
SO MUCH MORE TO FIND OUT
SO MUCH MORE TO FIND OUT
--Josh at 19
You’re coming by tomorrow
to tie Grandpa’s necktie
with that double Windsor
knot I could never learn.
Thanks, man. Like you said
last night, When do you need it?
You’re driving back
from the Klickitat--
How’s the fishing?
I ask.
No good, brown as dirt--
fish everywhere, they can’t see
my lures or smell my eggs.
That’s poetry! I say.
I said it the way I did--
on purpose, you say.
That’s more interesting to me
than your fishing, is what
I say. So much you’re learning
about yourself everyday.
You’ve got my ear, Josh--
Gpa’s listening!
Gpa Jim/Gma Karen
P.S. Love is still the most important.
5 September 2024
AFTER A MORNING SPIN ON THE BIKE
AFTER A MORNING SPIN ON THE BIKE,
THESE SYLLABLES ON THE ELECTION,
WITH A BOW TO THE CARTOONIST*
Make America
Mine Again, Tommy Tomorrow*
Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine
Oh, MAMA
Jim Bodeen
4 September 2024
NEITHER THIS NOR THAT
NEITHER THIS NOR THAT
What is this?
What is this.
Is this what
This is what
Is what this
What this is
Jim Bodeen
1 September 2024
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