Olive

Olive
by Gideon Burton

in memory of our first grandchild, Olive Burton,
who came to us, and left us, on March 25, 2012 

The ultrasound technician didn't know
the baby couldn't stay. Her mother, close
to dying, wouldn't last to keep the flow
of growing until safety interposed.
"And that's her arm, and here's her beating heart.
She's healthy, normal, right on track with growth."
We watched my son with tender groaning start
their child-grief, Adam clutching Eve and both
a witness to the miracle, the spike
of seeing such divinity in reach
that in our darkness nothing seems more light,
more fleeting-weighty than a parent's weeks.
     Oh, little Olive, here and gone again;
     we'll dance with you when time at last unbends.

September Stays

September Stays
by Gideon Burton

Each year the tilting planet spills the seasons:
the colored breezes run in altered hues;
the oceans slosh into September's reasons,
persuasive as the aspen trees' chartreuse.
Some years my sons and I have piled our leaves
to mounds of paper florins, rich with must.
Our little dogs we've tossed with football ease
upon this Autumn bedding (gently thrust).
They yapped their giggling, seemed to ask for more,
but we had thrown ourselves and scattered all.
How elegant the yard, its leafy floor
abused when raking ends our playful brawl.
     Turn earth, turn time, refreeze and thaw again;
     the seasons stay that wisely we have spent.

Scouting Rocks

Scouting Rocks
by Gideon Burton

The merit of those badges and awards,
the virtues of the campouts and the dirt,
the reason BSA gets my support,
is not because I like a khaki shirt.
Oh no, I am a critic of the cult:
its rituals, its silliness, its lore;
its campy camps, the way it warps adults,
its fundraising -- we pay and pay some more.
And yet, my sons go out among the trees,
they hike and stroke canoes across a lake.
Testosterone is tempered by degrees
despite the whoopee cushion world they make.
     So, let them stone the gophers, burn their socks;
     Unplugged and exercising: scouting rocks.



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