overhanging, mrg 3/11


my father was pounding on the door 
at four-thirty:  “time to get up.”  
it was a matter of fact.  didn’t matter 
that my stomach was knotted on the floor 
and the room was spinning like the world
with my head at the center of gravity.  
it was my first morning
after my first bourbon, i was fifteen,
and i had a paper route.  i don’t remember
much of the party after andy telling me 
to guard his parents’ liquor cabinet.  
i had just attained the pinnacle 
of my stupidity, and it had been 
a long and careful study.

the funny part was that i didn’t think
my dad would notice a son so far gone--
my friends had left me in a pile
on the front lawn for him to pick me up,
and i did my best to stagger 
nonchalantly to the car.
   
so when the knocks came crashing 
into the present, i had no choice;
i was an independent businessman,
and i had a product to deliver.

twenty years later, i wouldn’t think
i’d have the same potential for stupidity.
i’d been rolling “blue ice” onto our bedroom
wall for the last hour.  my arm felt
like dark matter, and i’d thrown the window
open to suck in some fresh air.  

(my wife reserves “dumbass” for those 
occasions when i really am one.)

as i hung out the window gasping, 
i thought  of my father 
who had said nothing
but with his silence on the matter:
suck it up, boy; there is a job to be done. 




shady porcupines, mrg 3/12

the porcupines have been 
in the gazelle woods.
you can see 
that they've been 
dining on maple bark-- 
they must be dying
for some new shoots. 
i keep thinking that 
i'll run into a gang 
of the shadier ones on some
dark trail: "this is a stick-up. 
give us all of your granola,
you hairless plank-walker."



first boil, mrg 3/13

bernie's shack was going full tilt
when i headed out to do some slush
turns in the rain.  the whole thing
was enshrouded in steam.  weird 
how the day he boils can be so unlike 
the one where he brings the sap down.




--justin

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SkiVt-L is brought to you by the University of Vermont.

To unsubscribe, visit http://list.uvm.edu/archives/skivt-l.html