8/25/91
Columbus,Ohio
A.M. Eyecheck
Geese of my childhood
Mid morning shuffle
Graze like cattle or so it seems
To tired eyes squinting in the haze
Not quite right
Like a fish on a bicycle
Or a dog in a tree
But that’s what I see…
They wander along,elderly on the boardwalk
Admiring the water that man has put there
And once they step wet,down into it waiting
The doubtful imposition fades…
Unknown into known,new into old
My child wants to run and scatter them out
Wings cutting the morning,sky swelling with flight
I’m not alone as they walk to the water’s edge
Stealthy movement corrupted by stone splashes,ripples
Smiles and second attempts still lay ahead
And as the children leave,the geese do the watching
The joggers and drivers they come to expect
Perhaps if they saw me with my nose in the grass
They’d wonder as I do if something was wrong.