Even on that piano

Even
on that piano
that
out of tune
piano
that
piano with bad
action,
Even
though you haven't
practiced
lately


-Jim DuBois

something essential

I don't know
if I've got this story
exactly right,
because it didn't happen
to me,
and I heard it
many years ago,
but I am sure
I retained
the essence of it.

My friend Juan,
who I think
was descended from
old Mayan kings,
had disappeared
from society for a while,
by hiding out
down below
those iconic cliffs,
on that beach
in California,
where he met this
Vietnam vet
who lived in a cave
and hunted fish
with a spear launcher
made with an old
bicycle inner tube.

Above them,
atop the cliff,
there was
a Buddhist monastery,
and Juan used to climb up
and pick fruit
from their garden
while they sat there
meditating
among the plants,
and they never
moved or said anything.

And for me,
that image captures
something essential
and beautiful
about life
that is hard to define.


-Jim DuBois
September 2015

Straightforward Titles for Recurring Dreams

Last Day at Camp
Crowded Apartment
Leaving the Party
Down a Long River
Strange Place to Sleep
Dream Roads
Empty Department Store that is Sometimes a Grocery Store
Flying out the Window
Those Extra Rooms I Never Knew Were There
What's Wrong with the Bathroom?
Giant Bathroom with the Running Showers


-Jim DuBois
Dec 26, 2015

And Never Let

I know that we
worry needlessly
about disasters
and about one
or the other
of us dying,
but I decided
just after I woke up
that if you died
unexpectedly,
I would love you
anyway,
keep writing you
poems,
talk out loud
to you,
think about you
all the time
and never let
death win


-Jim DuBois
Jan 3, 2016