Cover Art by Briana Miller

24 pages, hand-sewn

Sebastopol, 2005

IN THE BACKYARD

It all begins here. Where you

sit.

Some of these neighbors

may be older than I. That tree

is well over 100 feet tall…

The stone Buddha facing west

has a canopy of a bush

and sits in front of the magnificent tree.

I notice a small figure standing nearby

appear to bow, rise again

and scamper away. The squirrel

ran up the lemon tree, paused at the sound

of barking dogs over the fence in other yards

and retreated back up the big tree.

The Tibetan prayer flags flapping on the cord

strung between the big tree and the lemon.

This back yard

is a sufficient slice of green

and calm and beauty

to satisfy any one.

The fronds of the big fern, the flowers

purple blossoms, rocks,

the old wooden glider by the roses.

The law of the jungle too

is practiced here. The squirrel

the cat, the raccoon and always

the barking dogs over the fences.

The sun follows it’s cosmic laws

setting a minute or so later every day.

The flash of the setting sun

on the squirrel’s fur

which first caught my attention

as he bowed to the Buddha

could not happen now…

The dark blue of evening has come.

Lights turn on in the houses

of people.

POETIC LICENCE APPLICATION

The string holding the prayer flags has broken.

No longer connected to the lemon tree

It trails from the large neighbor

The colorful flags

undulating in the morning breeze

Torn-end of the string caught in a bush.

The flags free

Sunlight shining thru them

String not touching the garden floor.

[This poem based entirely on fact.

No object or activity has been changed

due to application of poetic license.]