how to love your family

sometimes the slow burn of constancy

cools and chars.  It chaffs facades and peels

like old paint. The neglected room grows

cavernous without bodies moving through.

APPRECIATION is a political word, a show,

while gratitude waits smiling by the roadside

for a ride.  information is currency

and monetary movement between people

corrupts the quiet willing patterns of peace.

I’d rather walk one more time around the pond

with company, than sit one more phone call

bouncing conversation from crowded satellite

to satellite.  

always the slow burn of constancy

is basic.  It is not meant to be a beacon

or travelers mark.  It is the center ember

from which sparks are lifted to dull the

absent cool of new places.   GRATITUDE

of time, every day a timed exercise.

Appreciation is left for the scripted holiday

cards that break so many hearts.  I’d rather

walk one more time around the pond

with company, than spend one more

afternoon imagining a magazine-d future.