Cutting the Grass

 

—Poetry by Michael H. Brownstein, Jefferson City, MO 

and Nguyenvan Luat

—Photos Courtesy of Public Domain

I CUT THE GRASS WITH MY SON
 
My son, no longer a boy, tall and taller
Leans into the lawn mower on the hill,
The last quarter-acre of land, the grass
Tall, too, lanky like him, allows itself
To shape-shift, the first days of September,
The sun on fire, the air on fire, I am melting,
My hair loose over my face like a wet mop,
My shirt discolored with everything pouring
From me, but there is shade and somehow
A light breeze. My son is as composed as can be,
Pushing the mower up the hill for another pass.
When he is done, he asks what’s next.
The silk trees, I point, growing everywhere.
And the vinca vines leaching into tree trunks
We wish to keep healthy. There’s a strand
Of poison ivy. The evergreen needs a trim.
So we work and the weight of the work
Grows heavy within me, but he is not wet,
His hands are not dirty, and yet the silk trees
Fall, the vinca vines disrupted at their roots,
The poison ivy cut at its source. Next?
He asks, but I need a break, our gallon jugs
Humid in the heat, and I am hungry, too,
So we enter the house where his baby girl
Leans into her mother, already knowing strength,
And my son who is no longer a boy
Lifts his child carefully in his large hands,
Kisses her gently on the forehead once, twice, twice more.
We have to do more, he tells her. When we finish,
We’ll take a walk downtown, visit the library,
And maybe get a bite to eat. What do you think?
And he kisses her again, on the top of her head,
Rubs his hand through the soft silk of her hair,
His strong hands containing all of her, his baby girl
Making baby sounds, and my son blue-skies happy.


(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, June 21, 2020)

 

 

 

 

I THINK ABOUT MY SON WHILE I CUT A QUARTER-ACRE OF LAWN

The father trims trees; his son trims trees—
they stand together before a mosaic of large bark,
new blossoms, a glitter of leaf, each one
holds a clipboard and a small golf-scoring pencil,
their heads bent towards each other discussing
length and circumference, distance and height,
dry rot, the mulberry growing out of the maple,
the small tree forming in the elbow of dogwood
and I cut the grass in long rows, thinking of my son,
the flea market twenty-dollar mower grunting
one line after another, steep hills, roots,
the remnant of an old wall now revealing itself,
rock and brick, tree debris, clumps of earth,
the sun warming me to sweat and brine,
knowing he is cool in his lab researching herbs
and a multitude of plants, degrees in botany,
grants to travel to Vancouver, Scotland,
the north of Viet Nam near the Chinese border,
to Missouri and his farm of figwort and moss,
then Chicago to his office, a portrait of his son and wife
on the wall above his desk, a photo of his mother,
the air conditioner blasting, his equipment singing
soft hymns, his computers opening pages of notes.
He will be coming to visit in late August, the grass
not as tall, the rocks and debris gone,
and he will wake after his first night in his old bed,
come down for breakfast, his family still recovering
from their long trip, and say to me,
"Let's cut the grass?" and I will answer, "Yes."

 

 

 

 

 

A POEM BY NGUYENVAN LUAT

Capella Evelyn, Nick name Bao La 

Bao La!

Cháu gái bé Bao La


Từ bên kia trái đất


Chào đời! Chào cả nhà!


Chúc An khang Thịnh vượng!
Bao La tình nghĩa Mẹ - Cha!


Bao La bông lúa củ khoai tình ngườii!


Bao La bừng sáng bầu trời:


CHÂN - THIÊN - VIỆT-Mỹ đời đời Bao La!
Grand Father's Bao La


28/07/2018   


Capella Evelyn, Nick name Bao La
Immense!


Baby girl Bao La


From the other side of the earth


Born! Hi all!


Chúc An Khang Prosperity!
Loving Mother Love - Father!


Bao La cotton rice yam yams love!


Bao La bright sky:


CHAN - THIEN - VIETNAM - USA forever Bao La!
Grand Father's Bao La

 

* * *

A POEM BY MICHAEL H. BROWNSTEIN

Anh Sáng Ban Ngày
Tôi đánh thức sấm sét từ bên trong,


một cuộc đụng độ khác,


ngân hàng khóc vì thiếu,


công ty điện thoại sủa,


hàng rào xuống cấp và sau đó


một trong những con chó của chúng tôi nhảy qua


và tôi không thể tìm thấy cô ấy ở đâu cả.


Tôi phải đi làm, tôi có


việc vặt và việc làm và giấy tờ,


nhưng điều này sẽ cần phải được giữ,


Con chó được tìm thấy, an toàn. Một kiểm tra


với hàng hóa, tôi sửa hàng rào, kéo


một vài cỏ dại, một cây bắt đầu,


và tăng cường nghiêng.


Đã có hàng trăm người ở bên ngoài,


ánh sáng mặt trời đằng sau độ ẩm của mây,


và rồi tin tức đến qua—


một cháu gái, sinh ra bốn giờ sáng,


sáu cân, khỏe mạnh, đã đẹp—


và mặt trời xuyên qua lớp mây,


những bông hoa rực rỡ bởi bức tường phía xa


mở khuôn mặt vàng xinh đẹp của họ,


bụi hoa hồng mở miệng đỏ,


những bông hoa nhỏ màu trắng, hoa tử đinh hương,


bồ công anh, mulberries chín


và tất cả đều đúng với thế giới của tôi.

 

 

 

DAYLIGHT

I wake to a thunder from inside,


another clash of infection,


the bank crying about a lacking,


the phone company barking,


the fence degrading and then


one of our dogs jumps over


and I cannot find her anywhere.


I’ve got to go to work, I have


errands and deeds and paperwork,


but this will need to be put on hold.


The dog is found, safe. One check


to the good, I fix the fence, pull


a few weeds, a beginning tree,


and reinforce the leaning.


It’s already a hundred outside,


sunlight behind a humidity of clouds,


and then the news comes through—


a granddaughter, born four AM,


six pounds, healthy, already beautiful—


and sun breaks through the cloud cover,


the sunlit blossoms by the far wall


open their beautiful yellow faces,


the rose bush opens its red mouths,


the tiny white flowers, the lilacs,

the dandelions, the ripening mulberries


and all is right with my world.


So fresh and so clean.

______________________

Today’s LittleNip:

Somehow a rainbow
harvests the sky,
and a dragonfly over
murky black waters wears
a rainbow on its wings.

—Michael H. Brownstein

_______________________

Our Father’s Day (tomorrow) and Juneteenth thanks to Michael Brownstein and Nguyenvan Luat for today’s poetry! Michael has been a SnakePal for a long time, and we’re always glad to see him pop up. (For an extensive 2019 interview of him, go to www.chollaneedles.com/2019/09/interview-poet-michael-h-brownstein.html/.)

Today (6/19), from 5-8pm: a new monthly program will premiere in Placerville on Main Street: the Third Saturday Art Walk, featuring art, music, poetry (at the Belltower), $5-7 specials at some restaurants, and other fun stuff at local merchants. Notify new El Dorado Poet Laureate Lara Gularte (larag@aol.com) if you’d like to read a poem.

Tonight (6/19), 7:30pm: Sac. Poetry Alliance features D.R. Wagner reading from his new quartet, Distant Lights (Cold River Press), at 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento—plus open mic. Please bring a mask if you are not vaccinated. Facebook info: www.facebook.com/events/946413116191632/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22surface%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22create_dialog%22%7D]%7D/.

________________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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