-poem on this day-

the regional Bishop is

calling for peace in our time.

he's sitting in a chair befitting his station.

behind him hangs a reproduction

of Mary in the Clouds with Putti.

so I'm looking around the four walls of my room:

an early drawing from my art school days.

an early drawing from a friend’s art school days.

a small mirror. an abandoned three
penny nail protruding from its space waiting for something.

a photo of my young father in bootcamp khakis.

my young mother in the park with her sisters.

there are two interior windows at the corner forming a right angle and

if I factor-in the outside,–– houses, trees, birds and overcast skies.

so that’s that.

now this:

I should look around more often.

I used to look around more often

                       when I was a younger man.

maybe
I take things for granted.

I should know better.

things change.
sometimes life moves backward.

there are marching protesters again.

there’s a killer virus out there. there's the long
blue line of cops forming in tight horizontal formation

the way the Redcoats did at Lexington and Concord.

a decomposing president holds a Bible as if he's holding
a block of dry ice, glimpsing the spine to make sure it is what he was told it is.

June 5, 2020.