Things That Don't Get Lost

Fall Color in Yolo County
—Poems by James Lee Jobe, Davis, CA
—Photos Courtesy of James Lee Jobe

Months now without rain, even this lizard looks dry. The redwood trees out front are green, but I don't know how they do it. I suspect magick is involved. This is California’s great northern valley, and it seldom rains between Easter and Halloween. By late summer the heat and the dryness are like giants pounding on huge drums, calling out for rain. The rain is in the beat and standing out in the heat, watching the empty sky, I can feel it building, building, building, waiting for the moment when the dam in the sky gives way to life and love. And to rain, simple rain. The lizard has had enough of waiting, and scurries off without even saying goodbye. Too bad. I could use a friend.

 Deer at Cache Creek

Pine trees shaped like triangles, breathing like humans.
Redwood trees as strong as helpful giants, also breathing.
A breathing sky as lovely as a woman
Longing for love.
The watershed, Putah Creek here, breathing loudly
Like a young man who knows nothing of love.
Sunset is coming.
The breathing Earth spins like a dervish
While the solar system slides through the galaxy.
The universe breathes, like a tree, like the watershed.
Motion and growth. Breath.

 Capay Valley Crops

The white nationalists rule America with a fist of hate;
How can I oppose them with hating them back?
Yet that must be my task—to remember
That all humans have some worth and deserve
A measure of dignity. Even those who live off of hate,
Who let the fat of anger clog their arteries
And weigh down their hearts. I have my own soul.
I will embrace those who are hated by the fascists.
And then the hard part, to forgive the hatred
And to pray for their souls, too. Can I do this?
I don’t know. But that is the task at hand.

________________

Oh, you have no idea how dark it is.

Just as I know the universe has no end,
I know that there is a shadow across my soul.

Can you actually prove that we have souls?

No, but I can show you the shadow—
Are you up to seeing it?

________________

We might take off our shoes and walk together through the dew-damp grass of the very early morning. We might sit down together with coffee and quiet talk, speaking of those things in our lives that are real. It might be that we have beliefs and values in common, and that our hearts are our own, that we not controlled by some dogma or ideology. That who we are and what we are might be more important than where we were born or how we pray. Wouldn’t that be something? In these things I will place my hopes, and I promise to leave room for your hopes as well.

 Fall Color in Folsom

I must have slept after all.
We might call it sleep, but I wanted to rest my soul,
Not just my body. Instead,
I read long into the night. Outside,
The full moon of August was high and glowing.
My body was reading but my soul was outside,
Walking in the yellow moonlight.
Then I woke up with a start in my reading chair,
The book was on the floor where it fell,
I must have slept after all.
Outside there was the first corner of sunrise,
And a new day. The moon had yet to set,
And so the sun and moon passed each other
At the corners.

 Walnut Orchard in Fall, Sacramento Valley

I said, "You look pretty today." And she did. She gave me an 'almost smile' and thanked me. I was sitting at the table eating lunch and she had been passing by, so I reached out and grabbed her around the middle and pulled her to me. "No, I mean it. You’re my pretty wife, just as pretty today as four decades ago. Beautiful." This time when she thanked me she leaned over and held me, too, and I could feel the love still there, the years that have passed and the children raised, the granddaughter growing fast, our grey hair and my bald spots. I could feel those things we have. Things that don't get lost.

_______________

Today’s LittleNip:

May I always do my part to keep the light lit,
Even though I may never understand what the light is.
May I be a help and an asset to those around me.

—James Lee Jobe

_______________

Our thanks to James Lee Jobe for his fine poetry and photos this morning! James will be reading with Mary Mackey in Sacramento today, 1pm, as Crossroads Reading Series returns to South Natomas Library on Truxel Road. Also today at 1pm, there will be a release of River Rock Books’ poetry collection, Seaworthy, by Marie Reynolds at 916 Ink Imaginarium, 3301 37th Av., Sacramento. Also at 1pm, there will be a reading in Modesto from the latest issue of Song of the San Joaquin at the Stanislaus County Library. [Note: that's 1pm, not 2pm as originally listed.] And tonight, Tellebration will take place at Sac. Poetry Center, 6:30pm, with world stories and music hosted by Angela James. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.

A note, though, about the Davis Arts Center Poetry Series reading scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday): It has been cancelled due to the smoky air.

—Medusa

 “...even this lizard looks dry...”
—Anonymous photo
(Celebrate poetry!)

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
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