New Poems
by Michael Estabrook

Max

 

He’s protecting the homestead barking

and lunging at the lawnmower guy

on the other side of the window

a product of man’s domestication

for protection, companionship.

 

Shall we grill tonight dear

or get Chinese take-out or Mexican?

 

Doesn’t matter to me.

Did you see on the news

more pilot whales beached themselves

near Judique in Cape Breton?

Wonder why they do that.

 

No one knows why. Could be confusion

caused by sonar

or fear of shark attacks or from poison

or pollution or something in the weather

who knows?

 

Max for crying out loud stop barking! Quiet!

 

Chinese it is.

Does Max know they eat dogs in China?

 

 

 

Wisdom Finally

 

35 years after their rancorous divorce

their Annus Horribilis

as Lois would say

Johnny insists he wants her back again.

Tell her, he takes us aside

Tell her you heard we’re getting married again

this coming April.

Are you sure? OK.

So we tell her

wishing it could be so wishing history

could be rewritten, Johnny and Lois

having never split up

having never torn themselves to pieces

and everything was right again

as it had been

our collective nostalgia warm and thriving

an unbroken continuum sure and reassuring

as the sun and moon. But Lois

was having none of it, didn’t

even smile, only shook her head and said

“Nope. That ship sailed a long long time ago.”

 

 

 

My Girl

 

She likes her cereal soggy

can’t swallow pills

makes the bed as she’s crawling out of it

takes baths not showers

doesn’t drink or swear

can’t go to bed without emptying the dishwasher

is always on a diet but refuses to call it a diet

moves her lips while she’s reading

always changes our table in restaurants

never sweats

loves puzzles, giraffes, and mangoes

doesn’t keep any houseplants

doesn’t like eating fish or swimming in the ocean

amazing what you learn about a woman

after being with her 45 years.

 

 

 

What can you do?

 

As my mother gets older she calls more

especially since my brother died

She tells me how her car’s running or not

and what she’s made for dinner.

She tells me she misses Kerry

and me and Todd too.

She tells me how hot it is in Florida

and that they need rain desperately.

She tells me losing a son

is far worse than losing a husband.

She tells me to stay off the damn ladder.

 

 

 

Blessings

 

Guardian Angels everyone has Guardian Angels

who guard you in life who

are always by your side

beings, people, alive or dead and you

can be a Guardian Angels too

to someone else by bringing God’s blessing to them.

 

So I made Father G mine

by cuing-up to be blessed by him

even though I am a non-believer

a heathen, a mere visitor to this church

and he smiled as he made

the mark of the cross upon my forehead happy

to have touched an outsider I imagine.

 

And I said thank you and returned reverently

to my seat wondering

the whole while what any of this

has to do with losing my brother

earlier this year

a merciless agony the cancer consuming him alive

leaving only etchings

of his bones beneath his thin skin.

 

I wondered where the hell God was

during all that horror and why

he allowed the Devil’s Guardian Angel

who or whatever that is

to bless the Devil so he could rule the day.

 

 

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