Article voiceover
An honest assessment
There are weeds in the lawn that need to be pulled and it’s so August hot this small plot is browning. That bike has a flat that will ruin the rim and a two-stroke is easier to fix than a four. The grass is always greener when there is none on this side and I cannot stomach another day of this job. Dim evening light changes how I feel about work and to sleep more would certainly improve my outlook. To replace this faucet takes three times the time I would think and your presence with your son is a gift. I can’t stop wondering how I will fund college for three and I trust the future is bending toward opportunity. To support one barely surviving is exceedingly difficult and all beings have value simply because they walk the earth. My tastes seem to change every few years and I miss how I pictured the world when I was sixteen. To live with generous motive shows one’s character and no one will leave the world unscathed. This broken fence picket must be replaced and an admonishment is a gift in a friendship. Squirrels are busy burying walnuts for winter and I only want to bring who I am to the light. Twelve surrounding a dining table is beauty and chaos and intent is not wise when one leaves with cutlery in their heart. Those without regret must rewrite the past and walking barefoot outside would solve every ailment we have.
Thank you for reading! What strikes you, speaks to you, or stirs in you while you read this piece? I look forward to whatever dialogue happens here, and as always, I will be following up with a Reflection essay on how this poem emerged into being.
Brian
I love how the second line of each couplet complicates or shades the meaning of the first line and how the poem builds from one couplet to another, feeling a little like stream of consciousness, but also like a subtle argument. And there's a kind of movement from the solitary contemplation of work to contemplations about relationships and community, and yet at the same time the movement also seems to be from the outward focus towards the heart of things. And almost a movement from the concrete towards the more abstract ideas, but even those abstractions are rooted in concrete details. A simple form and yet it really takes you on a journey.
The "ands" work so beautifully here--great choice, Brian. Love all these intermingling layers of texture and feeling. We can't separate the difficult from the sublime, can we? Everything belongs.