watching the animals for clues

the haunting

we have lived in this house for many years 

we have buried many animals here in the backyard 

we are fond of parakeets 

but their lives aren't all that long 

and also a couple of them got sick early on 

some of the graves are theirs

and our cat 

for years she hunted field mice 

in the park across the street 

bringing their remains home to us 

trophies 

she would parade around the corpse 

with her tail straight and erect 

and we would bury them 

while she watched 

dozens of them 

a few times she caught a bird 

once it was a big crow 

all buried and then the cat died too 

and joined her victims in our soil 

there's a big tortoise out there as well 

somewhere among the rest 

none of us remember where they all are 

there's too many of them 

spread out across far too many years 

but if you listen late at night 

perhaps you will hear a little scurrying sound 

or the flapping of wings 

we like to think 

well you can guess can't you 

it is the animal ghosts watching us 

haunting us 

-james lee jobe 

I want you to understand that your first duty is to humanity.

I want others to look at us and see that we care

not just about ourselves but about others.

-Madam C.J. Walker

Vincent van Gogh, The Reaper (after Millett), September, 1889

this lincoln log life

everyone says that my way of life

is the way of a simpleton

-lao tzu

this life

was built from lincoln logs

long ago

no one understands

time is a sister

was a brother

time is a mother

was a father

watching the animals for clues

watching the insects

looking for meaning

this incarnation

is built from building blocks

colored with crayons

like a child made it

getting older

balder

seeing ghosts

talking to the invisible

whispering

secrets

prayers

omens

recipes

hopes

promises

admissions

dreams

"what are you doing"

"don't know

don't care either

got some poems"

james lee jobe

We all have the seeds of basic goodness within us,

we just have to nourish them. 

-Pema Chödrön

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James