10 Obscure Lives

the little blonde who,
after some boiled eggs and black olives,
would listen to proud family lore
lovingly told by his Swedish grandma.

the spectacled child
who quakingly followed his parents to Anasazi ruins
amid craggy, spring blown canyons;
once he fell far and was amazedly unbroken.

the angry high-school loner
who jogged on horned owl mountain
with his reddish gold dog-
and shared seedy wild currants with the quail and magpies.

the 16 year old yankee in Sweden
who wasted months reading Poe and Holmes
and was fortunate to be shown the mossy forests
where brown mushrooms gleam in primal grace.

the well-known newspaper columnist
who gregariously shook hands on the street,
feasted on lonely clam soup at Skipper's,
and was daily whipped in Math and Chemistry class.

the Bohemian university cat
who wore a leopard fleece
and ran with Weezy Willie the Mountain king,
who was generous with his weed and veteran n'erdowell teachings.

the often lush but still blossoming student of life
who, sprawled on the grass by a rushing creek in a serene forest park,
would drift away into Buddha, Confucius, or Durant

the university graduate who took sandy, contemplative walks with his dad
on the coast of tortillas and senoritas,
insightful iguanas and icy Bohemias;
and wandered entranced amid the coral and swimming color.

the home-town derelict
who loathed his tenth story cubicle
and loved to sleep on the fresh grass
dazing into the legion lights of the Oregon night

the expatriate in Thailand
who effused ecstasy at the beautiful elephants
with their pink speckles and civilized ways,
and shared dimes with the farm girls and head-scarved hotel clerks
who would smile with true mirth
some sixty years after Hiroshima