FIVE POEMS
Hymn for Dan
We went to visit our brother.They had a special, blue roomfor the purpose of waiting.A counselor came over andcalled my sweater “too provocative.”Nora started laughingand then I started laughingand then our brother came outand told us about the squirrel he had been feedingpackets of peanut butter each day to pass the timeand how the squirrel was now too fat to climb treesand he was worried because winter was comingand we were all laughing and crying from the laughing.We stayed as long as we were allowedthen Nora and I walkedback through the snow, towards the hotelfive years ago.Last night, in bed, I typedinto a Wikipedia search.It was a book my dad had putin the basement bathroomof the house we grew up in.Something else about my dad was on Sundayshe put a cabbage leaf on my headin an effort to calm me down.Let me draw you a diagramof that perfect, tranquil hat.
