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One and One

August 12, 2012 by Watt Childress 2 Comments


Counting steps one
is open to chaos.

One’s ankle is sprained
feeding ducks before work.
Then glasses are squashed
during one lame hunt for
the perfect book to wow
a whitewater scholar.
One loose lens is lost
fumbling to fit the other
one back in the frame.

One goes on
amid the free-for-all,
seated with elevated foot.
Change is made there,
carefully handed to lambs
lined up with ones to
pay for beach reading.
“Our family loves coming here
once a year,” says a shepherd.

Counting back coins one
lucky clerk begins to
channel Santa, asks
“do you like math?”

“Not yet,” grins the Lord,
“I’m only in preschool.”

Thus all-one-daddies are
filled with beatitude,
like Buddha’s dimple or
Dr. Bronner’s gut.
One finds a hidden
book and yes one more
look around returns
the missing lens.

Filed Under: Poetry, Spirit, ULE, Uncategorized

About Watt Childress

Watt owns Jupiter's Books in Cannon Beach, Oregon and he publishes the Upper Left Edge. He has written for HIPFiSH, The Daily Astorian, The North Coast Citizen, The Seaside Signal, The Oregonian, and The Vancouver Observer. Also Appalachian Magazine, The Kingsport Times-News, The Tennessean, The Third Eye, Farmazine, The Griot, and Presbyterian Survey. His lettered compulsion took a turn, thirty-some years ago, when he began sending odd columns to the Reverend Billy Lloyd Hults, former publisher of The Upper Left Edge. Watt lives on a tiny hill-farm perched beside the Nehalem Valley. There he and his kin care for dairy goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, newts and other critters.

Comments

  1. Heather Reed says

    September 30, 2012 at 11:11 am

    Lovely, sir. A poetic slice of zen this sunny morning. In an instant, all is right with the world. Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Vicky York says

    October 19, 2012 at 4:59 pm

    I really love this poem.

    Reply

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