Inside this cranium cavern
mined from my mind
in goes the shovel
to dig up bones
Buried in the slime pit of constant
meaningless thought
This coal should turn a diamond
in the rough
from the hard core experience of
erotic evolution
shocking the simple minded
with the no-thingness of it all

Cardboard castles

The new refrigerator arrived in June
Momma was busy
throwing away the old jars
and Tupperware science projects
from the old Cold Spot
Hoisting the box overhead we started toward the yard
banging into doorways too narrow to allow
four shuffling pairs of feet to go unnoticed
Slipping a butcher knife from the kitchen drawer
we set about carving windows in our playhouse
the neighbor kids joined us with crayons and markers
Graffiti on the outside,
hieroglyphics on the inside
Looting the linen closet
and taking a pillow or two
from the living room sofa
we furnished our fort
The hub of activity lasted
until the first hard rain
sogged our cardboard castle
Momma peering out the window
yelled from the kitchen sink
“Why has that dog got my good towel in the yard?
I was saving that for company!”

Doody Wooder

We took turns shoveling dirt
To dig a hole in the backyard
Gonna make us a fish pond!
Carefully fitted a 110 gallon phallus-shaped hard plastic mold
into the earth
Filled it with water from the hosepipe
And let it sit for weeks
Warming up
Getting ready for coy

Water turned green;
Bright green!
A million tadpoles took lodging
among drowned worms and skating skeeters
Algae cesspool

The kids came over to check the progress
The 2 year old spoke his observation -
“Doody wooder!”
“Doody wooder!”

Paid $3.29 each for three fantailed fish
weighing about 1 ounce apiece
That’s $52.64 a pound
Plus tax
No wonder they’re called GOLDfish
With the advice of the highly trained expert at
Aquatic Critter
we installed a pump and filter
which prompted churned the water into pea soup
We added the goldfish nuggets to the soup on Saturday
Didn’t see them again ‘til the Tuesday after Easter
when we drained the pool by hand
with the dog’s water bowl
Caught number three on the final dip
Now we have three fish in a big red bucket
while waiting for the chlorine
to fritter away from the in-ground pond
Somebody stop the dog
She’s drinking fish broth from the bucket again.

TOUCHSTONE

Intriguing and mysterious
Nature's wonder kissed with age
Treasured, eternal element
Gently warming in the rays

Smoothed by the water's song
In her silence, hear the truth
Receive from her energy
Drink the fountain of her youth

Touch the stone. Touch the deep
Touch the creator within
Follow your heart. Love yourself
That's where peace begins

Loblolly pines
Standing like matchsticks in Georgia red clay
Pull their canopies up past their bellybuttons
to prevent children from climbing their long, lean legs
Of this terrain there were four in a row
partial acres that reared the clan
One-third an acre belonged to my parents but housed my aunt
One-third owned and occupied by Nanny and Pap
One lot tolerated my family of three plus one
And one plot of red dirt (minus the pine trees) raised the garden that kept us fed

1965 was the year it began
when Nanny and Pap paid ten grand
for two bedrooms on Oak Road
Soon it was home for Sunday dinners
with all the grandkids stomping in the daffodils
and using the yellowbell bush
as first base for our ballgame

Beware of the triangular bed of floral fantasies
intermingled with chickweed, wild onion, and Bermuda grass
The praying mantas loved to hide there
This delighted Pap who thought it clever to take hostage
those green sticks with bulging eyes
and attach them to the inside
of the screened-in front porch
He warned that those bugs would eat children who got into mischief
A strange tree that never managed more stature than eight feet
had broad leaves that the catoggle worms loved
and we loved to teach catoggle worms to swim
with the catfish at Twin Lakes in Cumming

I was disgraced in my high school days
Having to ride the bus to Nanny’s after school
Liberty Heights was known as a low-class sanctuary for poor white trash, KKK rednecks, and other derelicts
But it was convenient to band rehearsal and Little league practice
Since Mom worked a real job
Pap chauffeured my cousins, my brother, and me
in his green Datsun pickup -
the same one in which he took his twelve intermarried Beagles hunting
The luxurious camper boasted of deluxe seating;
a two-by-six wedged atop the wheel wells
We slid from one side to the other as Pap never did quite get the hang of gearing down or using brakes to turn a corner.

One year Economy Auto ran a sale on green paint
Pap painted everything -
the house trim,
the tool shed,
the metal glider,
the rocking chairs,
all four dog houses,
and the open wound on the peach tree he’d butchered with a hacksaw
I think he even touched up a few scratches on the Datsun.

The front porch functioned in many capacities
Spying on the neighbors under the pretense of listening for mourning doves,
snapping green beans,
shucking corn,
nursing an infant,
paddling a toddler,
or fighting over whose turn it was to sit in the big green rocker
And most ridiculous of all, the porch was used as hideout for adults (especially Pap) to take a pot shot at a stray dog or cat
who had the audacity of taking a crap in the garden
The weapon was a marble in a flip, not a slingshot, -
you’d have to be from the south to know the difference

It would snow at least once in a season
just to make sure winter’s cold breath
equaled the steam and heat
of summer picnics at Stone Mountain
when the humidity was so thick you could cut it
with the plastic knives that nearly melted in the basket
in springtime yellow pollen blanketed the entire state
one could tell the transplants from the natives by their sneezes
Fall colors were perfect
and the weather still warm enough for short sleeves until Thanksgiving

Norcross grew a four-lane highway to honor Jimmy Carter
when he changed his name to Mr. President
I-285 spread to six-lanes near Spaghetti Junction
reducing the drive time downtown to 20 minutes
Underground Atlanta awakened from hibernation with a new face and Marta could take you there for fifty cents

I’d married by then a man whose job made him a part-time resident,
and me a single parent with a wedding band
but I managed to bear him two young ’ens
The second child was on her way when the house on Oak Road next to Nanny and Papcame to market with the garden lot we’d envied for years
We were hesitant to buy in the faltering ‘hood but the price was right and my family of three plus one moved in

Living next to my grandparents had its advantages
Nanny cooked at five o’clock everyday
And if my kids didn’t like what I was having
They trotted across the garden to see
what was on the neighbor’s table
Tuesdays after school was especially fine since
Nanny made cookies, or milkshakes
to reward the kids for having to put up
with Momma working a job
when she had the day off from gardening

Urban renewal never occurred in Doraville
but Minorities took a liking to the low land
My kids never needed diversity training
Barbie and baseball with the
Hispanics, Africans, and Puerto Ricans was a daily multi-cultural experience
And since Mrs. Lopez cooked much better than me,my kids had a third choice of menu at five o’clock

In spite of the commercialization, residential boom,
and industrial takeover of the rural land of Gwinnett County
native Dogwoods will spread their blossoms come April
Roadsides will hail
Queen Anne’s lace, Ragweed, and Goldenrod all summer
And I suppose the yards we abandoned years ago will flower with mums that marked the day
Pap went home for good.

Another sockpile - I'm sure someone out there can relate.