It Began

It began
with the smile on Jake's face.

Someone dropped their keys
Someone else fainted.

Jake kept smiling.

The people on the sidewalk
felt their neck hair stand on end
and their skin tingle.

Many looked to the sky.

Up on the 30th floor,
a woman turned into a sparrow
and flew away into the clouds.


-Jim DuBois
March 30, 2016
(revised some old scraps of writing from the 90s)

No Loitering (photo)

Waking up at 3:21 am on Valentine's Day

Waking up at 3:21 am
on Valentine's Day...
"Do you hear that beeping?"
and it was
the smoke detector downstairs
chirping out its
low battery alarm,
so we took out
its battery
and I was making jokes
about my bitterness,
about missing sleep,
which made you laugh
and when we got back in bed
you kept giggling
and accidentally bumping me
with the hot water bottle
and making me twitch a little
while we were trying to sleep
and I was like,
"Oh, so my misfortune
and bitterness is funny
to you?"
which made you laugh even more
and then the loud heater
came on
and it seemed more and more
like we'd lose the battle for sleep,
like a sitcom
where everything keeps going wrong
and it's funny from the outside,
so I said,
"Happy Valentine's Day!"
and we laughed.

I wanted to end this poem
with something like
"And there was no one else
I'd rather have been with,
or hear giggling about my bitterness
in the middle of the night,"
because that is really true,
even though those words
are a little cliche
and I thought about
other ways to say it
or imply it
but nothing better
occurred to me,
so I decided
that maybe the best way
sometimes
is just to ramble on
and say I love you a lot,
and be a little cliche
anyway,
be a little imperfect,
a little flawed,
just like
that night
which was so wonderful
anyway.


-Jim DuBois
Feb 16, 2016

Everything I did while you were under for surgery

I really
couldn't bear the thought
of you missing out
on even a little half hour
of life,
so I decided
to record
everything I did
while you were under,
as a present for you.

First I mailed out Magic cards
with Dimitri,
then we went to
Veracruzana
to get bean burritos.
I wasn't too hungry
but it was cold
and eating is such a delight
I wanted to include it.

Then I got the idea
for this poem
and snagged a pen and napkin
from the counter
and started writing.

...

Took a break
to eat one of those
delicious chocolate coconut bars
from the Roost
just to indulge.

And in between
and through all these things
I have been loving you,
holding you in my heart,
thinking of you,
waiting for you to return,
eager to see you later today.

Now we're headed out
to get more cards
and play some Magic,
and you should
be waking up
now too.


-Jim DuBois
Feb 12, 2016 1:17pm

Specific Memories of Particular Food

Usually, you can't pinpoint
the time you ate
the best version
of any particular food,
especially everyday food,
so those times
when I can
stick out in my mind.

The first time was
a basket of french fries
I had at Holy Smokes
(now defunct) BBQ
in Hatfield MA.
They were so great that
when the cook
came around
to ask how everything was,
I said they were
the best fries
I'd ever had,
and asked how come.
He said that they
double-fry them,
but it also depends on
the moisture content
of the potatoes
and that depends on
things like the weather
while they were growing,
so they can't control that.

The other time
I was a fruititarian,
so I ate a lot of kinds of fruit
just for variety
in such a restricted diet.
I decided to give
golden delicious apples
another chance
one day at Atkins
(fruit stand - not defunct).
I bought one
and it was amazing,
and for a few days,
all the golden delicious apples
from there were
actually delicious
and then that faded,
for a still undetermined reason,
and I have not
truly enjoyed an apple
of that variety since.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 19, 2015

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