Sugar Bush
I focus on the tree’s trunk, study the bark’s
crevices and cracks, the patterns of the scars,
seek the mark that shows the special spot
which conceals the greatest sweetness.
I focus on the maple, set the tap, hook the black
tubing, which insists it’s time to go. More maples
wait my touch along the half-a-mile I’ve left
on this line, then I’ll head back down another.
I focus on the tubing, look for breaks or leaks,
remove a branch that lies across it, reach a maple,
drill holes and pound three spouts. A spit of flakes
pushes me to rush my check-the-lines ritual.
I lose my focus when windblown snow mutters
in my ear, winter’s still here. I pull up my hood.
But the thought of sap brings my focus to a memory
of a spring morning with pancakes and I’m warm.
I yawned, rubbed my eyes, then saw two deer
in my headlights. Too late for brakes, I swerved
and missed them. But I didn’t see her.
My front end threw the doe in the ditch.
She flailed her front legs, couldn’t stand,
I’d snapped her spine. She let me rub her neck.
The cop came, put his gun to her ear.
“Do you want the meat. It’s yours.”
No! No thank you, no. I think not.
Now I see her. When I pull the sheets up,
lay my head down and close my eyes, I see her.
She tapped my forearm, pointed at my change
and then the juke box. At my nod, she grabbed
a hundred yen and handed me a card.
While she pushed buttons of her favorite songs,
I read: I’m Kumi, I can’t hear or speak.
That night, I dropped more money in the box
than spent on drinks. We danced till closing time.
Slow songs, she melded to my every sway,
and fast, she seemed to float above the notes.
When I grew tired, I watched her dance alone.
She took me home and taught me how to sing
the song of lovers who’ve no need to speak.
I have over two-hundred fifty poems published in various journals and anthologies, including The Other Side of Sorrow. I edited the poetry anthology Heartbeat of New England (Tiger Moon Publication, 2000). Finishing Line Press published a chapbook of my Japanese forms, Connections to This World, in March, 2012. I have a contract with Cyberwizard Productions for book one, The Healer, in the five book fantasy series, The Silenian Wars.