1 Minute Old

Eveningless

Summer night

The day just runs into

The wind

And do you care

Where you were

When it rained

No

Because in summer,

Everything is an element—

Not just the weather,

But your skin,

Your lover’s skin,

Your lover.

You can’t get caught in the rain,

You can only be in it.

 

Run, run it

Clap hands

Big sounds

What are you

going to do now?

Dauphin Island

The rigs hum at night, mechanical giraffes
Ghost crabs scatter at the sound of our feet,
their eyes on tender stalks
Wary.
I would give 50 years of my life to be there again
The way it used to be
Imperfect and sediment-heavy
Already there was phenol in the water and
Mercury in the blood of the pelicans.
The marshes keep their secrets
They smell of old love affairs
Sulfur.
A blue heron waits
His back curved what an old man disappointed with life
And the live oaks stand witness
They scare us at night as we pass them on bicycles
Their moss hangs down whispering  You don’t know what I have seen.
I want you still god help me
Or if not you then a more vivid memory
I want to taste your salt air again your warm water
Forgive us, mother, for the mistakes that we are bound to make and the
million ways in which we have wounded you
I will find forgiveness when I die
Walking out past the children with the clam guns
(a crabber looks on)
Into the breaking waves
The oyster beds kiss my tender feet/

by Eleni Petrou, May 2010. Bob the house.

The Rules of Picnics

Lydia and I have been planning a picnic. Lydia is one of my littler friends in life and recently she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. She said that riding fast is the closest she has ever come to flying. This is true for me also. She also had some very wise things to say about fear--about her fear of falling. It's not the end of the world if I fall off my bike, but I think it is. But if I don't take risks I'll never get to go faster or ride in the road. I have to remind myself of this almost every time I go rock climbing. If I don't risk falling, I will never get to the top. 

Last Friday we rode our bikes, looping around and around her block. It was getting close to bedtime, but we decided that next-time we would have to go somewhere. And that it would probably be a good idea to pack a picnic. Lydia said, "We should talk about a few things." I didn't know picnics had rules, but once she outlined them for me, it made a lot of sense.

The rules of picnics:

1) You cannot drive to a picnic. It is only real if you ride your bike or walk.

2) You cannot have a picnic on a table, or with chairs.

3) There must be surprises.

4) You have to bring something to share.

5) You have to bring a surprise.

6) No training wheels.