Tank

Phil spent the day putting a tank in the ground.

After he hacked through shale with a pickax,
He dumped in sand, angled the tank,
And added sand and more sand, tamping it down.

I kept thinking I should call the boys to do school work.
But this was practically a field trip:
Tank installation day.

And, really, it was 75 and sunny.

Jump in the hole higher than your head! Catch toads!

It’s a day that’s good to be alive.

Posthumous

At Thanksgiving one year,
I had a conversation with my friend’s mother about books
And life, and how unpleasantly dry her mouth was without
Saliva.

A little thing you don’t think of as a comfort

Until it’s gone.

She died a few weeks later when we were out of town.

Today her daughter brought me a gift.
I had hoped to go with the daughter to see
A Cezanne exhibit in a far city,
But the logistics proved too much.

In a box of her mother’s things, she found
A beautiful, new book, never opened:
Cezanne.

A gift for me to remember the artist, and

Karen.

All Scripture

I can recite the passage about
All Scripture given by inspiration of God,
Profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction,
Instruction in righteousness.

But I don’t necessarily understand what that means.
In Nehemiah, there’s a list of the exiles
Who returned, just like there is in Ezra.
If not identical, pretty close.

Nehemiah has a lengthy “history of God at work” speech.
My attention kept wavering.
It’s a summary of the Pentateuch. Why is it needed?

The names of each person or family who worked
On each part of the wall: I can understand that, I suppose.
It’s like a football lineup, telling which person played each part.

We made it through all thirteen chapters,
Racing through the names as fast as possible.
And in the middle of those chapters,
I did wonder: how is this useful for
Doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness?

You Go, Girls

Nehemiah organizes workers
To repair the walls of Jerusalem.
In the midst of a long list of men,
There is Shallum, son of Halohesh,
And his daughters, working.
You go, girls.

Ezra

We read Ezra today.
What a fabulous book!

All the tattling letters.
The various potentates
Issuing opposing orders.
The reference to prophets,
Haggai and Zechariah.

The ancient men weeping
At the foundation laid,
Who saw the former
In its glory, their tears
With the young men’s
Shouts of joy. A tumult.

Subtle and overt threats;
How to transport
Valuables through enemy land
Without an armed guard;
The blank checks for supplies;
Genealogies settled by casting lot.

It felt like reading a novel.
Except it was history,
Compelling and real.

Honored

I was about to begin formal dinner prep
When I got an email from a friend,
Wondering if it would be okay to drop by.

She drove two hours to spend
An hour and a half with me.
And I was busy in the kitchen the whole time.

I realize the fall drive in the country is lovely,
And getting outside the city perhaps therapeutic.
But since she was coming to see me … what an honor.

Delivery Boy

Joe drew me a picture.
He left it on my dresser.
“Mommy, I think
The delivery boy
Left you something.
You should go into your room.”

And so I went.
He fell facedown on my bed
In a paroxysm of embarrassed delight:
Eager for me to see what he had done,
But hesitant, too, the way, perhaps
All artists are when faced with an audience.

Vulnerability starts young.