A Cup of Stars<\/p>\n\n\n\n
dedicated to Maria and Greg<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here Here Here Here Here<\/p>\n\n\n\n throughout my life many times once, living here, I thought on the last morning but, when Trevor comes am I mistaken? I\u2019ll run back to the office you watch Trevor drive I didn\u2019t lie to you What is deception? afterwards I go through the barn Maggie Babb is a working poet and prose writer with an interest in Investigative and Documentary Poetics. She is a member of the Hollowdeck Writers Guild in Maryland, USA.\u00a0She lives with her African Grey parrot and German Shepherd. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/joanna-kosinska-b2dPj4L8vZs-unsplash-scaled.jpg?fit=1709%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nwe are welcomed
\nby the Snowy Range
\nas winter is coming
\nto the Western Sierra Nevadas
\nwinding through
\nthis glacier-sculpted valley
\nwhere granite zooms impossible
\nlike fountains into the sky
\nslipping through sentinel groves
\nhere ancient sequoias grant permission
\nguiding us to enter
\nthe gaping bear\u2019s mouth
\nthe snow-glazed
\nthe magnificent Ahwahnee<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ncreeks are tumbling
\ndown bony ravines cascading
\naround misted boulders
\nhere carving
\nthrough fragrant earth
\nstreaming through
\nchiseling caverns
\nforming magnificent shapes
\ntheir breath nourishing
\nthe land
\ncultivating this valley<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nflows the Merced
\ndances brilliance up
\nfrom its depths
\nto dazzle reflecting
\nthe stars blazing
\ndiamonds
\nturning forever
\nin lustrous abundance
\naround the wheel
\nof seasons
\nHere
\nriver water softens
\nturning clay malleable
\nprecision
\nblending the two
\nskill defining
\nthe vessel
\noffering the essence
\nthe blessings
\nof life<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ntoday we gather together
\ncelebrating your wedding
\ninvoking
\ngrace for the two
\npledging
\nour support here
\nwitnessing your devotion
\nsharing in your promise<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the open gate<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nI have been taught
\nwhat every farm child learns
\nclose the gate as you go through
\nhow many times have I ignored
\nthat sound advice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nchasing ponies
\ntails held high
\nthrough my mother\u2019s flower bed
\nor down the twisting
\nQuaker Bottom Road<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nI\u2019ll just be a second
\nno need to fasten the gate
\nand ended up spending
\nthe entire morning meeting
\nall my neighbors
\non the ridge
\nexcuse me, have you seen a llama?
\nDid you happen to see where he went?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nyour legs
\ncan no longer
\nhold you
\nyou eat
\nyour morning grain
\nkushed in squashed grasses
\nfifty yards from the barn<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nyou decide you are not going
\nto let me
\nput your purple halter
\nover your head
\nyou move faster
\nthan you have moved
\nin a long while<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nis this too soon?
\nare you not ready?
\nI am dumbfounded
\nturn to look at Trevor
\nleaning lazily against
\nthe farm wagon
\na wan smile creasing
\nhis handsome face
\nhappens all the time
\nhe watches us, you standing
\ndefiantly six feet away
\nhead up, ears pricked
\nas I hold out your bucket of grain
\ngauging the steps between us<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ncheck on some things
\nbe back
\nI\u2019ll hide my things he calls
\nover his shoulder
\nsmart man<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nout of the driveway
\nwatch me saunter
\nback to the house
\nthen you move into the barn
\ntoward your bucket of grain
\nI sprint
\nlike you, faster than I have moved
\nin a long while.
\nI get behind you
\nI close the gate
\nyou turn
\nwe stare
\nyour dark, enormous eyes clear<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nI say out loud to the barn rafters
\nthe barn swallows as my witness
\nI didn\u2019t
\nhere is your bucket of grain<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nWhat is forgivable? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nyour glorious body
\ncurls in the grass
\nin a place easy for Steve
\nto manage his small backhoe,
\nI can\u2019t close your eye,
\nglazing over
\nno longer clear
\nno longer you<\/p>\n\n\n\n
blinded
no more chasing
no more darshan
every gate I come to
I fasten
open<\/p>\n\n\n\n