H20

The recipe

     For water is

The same as

     It’s always been

Two parts

     Hydrogen

One part

     Oxygen

Two to one

     That’s the rule

To make a water

     Molecule.

The Bravest Deed

I'm shopping with Mom
at the supermarket
and we see a woman
yelling at her kid who
looks about three or four.

She grabs the girl's arm
smacks her on the bottom
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
about ten times, hard, then
CRACK! across the girl's face.

The girl is screaming
and the lady gets ready 
to smack her again
but all of the sudden Mom
sort of steps between them 
and asks: Is everything okay?
You're having a hard time,
looks like. I remember...

Mom points to me, laughing,
actually calms the lady down
with that girl still sniffling
and me standing there hoping 
no one will notice

my trembling hands.

from Relatively Speaking: Poems About Family

Spring

An elusive thing

at the birth of spring

the first fine web

of a spiderling.

You can’t hardly feel it

it’s not really there

till it brushes your face

with a ghostly caress

that’s lighter than air.