On the maple wood we placed our elbows
and gripped hands, the object to bend
the other's arm to the kitchen table.
We flexed our arms and waited for the sign.
I once shot a wild goose.
I once stood not twenty feet from a buck deer unnoticed.
I've seen a woods full of pink lady slippers.
I once caught a 19-inch trout on a tiny fly.
I've seen the Pacific, I've seen the Atlantic,
I've watched whales in each.
I once heard Lenny Bruce tell jokes.
I've seen Sandy Koufax pitch a baseball.
I've heard Paul Desmond play the saxophone.
I've been to London to see the Queen.
I've had dinner with a Nobel Prize poet.
I wrote a poem once with every word but one just right.
I've fathered two fine sons
and loved the same woman for twenty-five years.
But I've never been more amazed
than when I snapped my father's arm down to the table.
Orval Lund
I like how he basically lists all of his accomplishments in life and starts most of his sentences with "I." I think its interesting that he has had many amazing accomplishments but the one he is most proud of is winning an arm-wrestling match with his father. He must be a very competitive person. I personally enjoy more in-depth poems.
ReplyDeleteMy Goodness! He never said a thing about "enjoying" putting his fathers arm on the table! He spoke of his "amazement"! His references to what You refer to as "accomplishments", are simply marvelous "events"; "High Places" in the life of a student of life... Since You seem to be incapable of discerning the difference between 'enjoyment' and 'amazement', and 'accomplishments' and 'events', i would suggest that You continue to try to focus on the poems which You feel are more "in-depth".
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