by Karen Douglass

Padre Ernesto Cardenal
Innisfree Books, Boulder, CO

Given his stature, I sit, stunned
by the absence of crowds chanting
his fame from the sidewalk.

He has come to us.  I hear his voice,
note that black beret, wonder
why passersby pass by him,

this revolutionary, whose Spanish
I trust even in translation.
I hand him Flights of Victory to sign.

He scrawls in silence, an automaton
whose poems are all I can have of him.
They suffice.  He does not need me

to worship him.  I will come
to see him as another graybeard
out of time and place, not

a god-sponge come to clean us, not
a man to make of clumsy America
a new Nicaragua of the mind.

by Steve Luttrell

Off by the roadside
in a field of junk cars
and covered with
a fresh, white snow,

I saw it!

An apple tree in Winter,
remnant of another season,
emblem of the Fall.

Where frozen in their
perfect, golden hue,
these winter apples hang
like a hundred tiny suns
suspended in the air.

No tree of the Hesperides, is this,
just a tree that bore its fruit

that no one came to
harvest in its time
but left to fall
in Winter’s field
and seed another Spring.

by Steve Luttrell

They talk about
the weather here
and there, of course,
and those maintain,
and with some insistence,
it’s the weather
forms the mood
and that process
in continuance, obtains.

They talk about
the weather here
until one comes
to find it tiresome
this talk about
the weather
and its seasons,
it’s moods.

It would seem
it has to be,
there’s more to life
than weather.

by Gary Mesick

They keep coming, closer and closer,
Smothering the landscape in their sea
Of Smurf-blue polyethylene.
They first take hold in the countryside,
Where they feast on entropy and expediency.
Eventually they insinuate themselves
Into sheds, garages, back yards, and rooftops.
They settle everywhere, and for good enough.
Before you can react, they will have you surrounded:

Paint-splattered drop cloth, rain fly,
Ground cloth, tent, wood pile cover,
Inoperable or superfluous
Boat, car, trailer, bike, and tractor cover,
Helicopter landing zone marker,
Wind sock, sail, gardening hot house,
Poncho, kite and tail, roof patch, wall patch,
Awning, window blind, pond liner,
Luggage-loaded roof rack cover,
Table cloth, picnic blanket, sofa slip cover,
Sign, and flag.  They are relentless.

You can’t hunt them down
Because you can’t tell friend from foe.
They could be you, or me,
Except that they are color-blind
And deaf to their grumbling neighbors.
Even now, just across the street,
There is what appears to be a man
Offering to loan you one to cover
Your barbecue grill.  He says it looks like rain.
Go ahead.  Take it.  It’s only for a while.