Table of
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IN THE COUNTRY
The moon looks like a cashew
in the summer sky.
Come to the window, my love,
and trace its outline with me.
Tell me north of Saranac Lake
bald-headed eagles still thrive.
Tell me cripples
can heal one another.
Chris Butters
____________________________
2013
The good news is
you have a job.
Of the three you worked
with last year
only you do not haunt
the unemployment line.
The bad news is
you have a job.
The work of the two
who this year
were downsized
has been transferred
to you.
Chris Butters
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LIKE ONE OF THOSE OLD COUPLES
Like one of those old old couples
you see on the subway,
their arms around each other
like 16 year olds,
so clearly still in love with each other,
those beautiful lines and wrinkles,
making you want to race home
and cry all night,
single mother that you are,
with an eight year old daughter,
growing up with no father,
and, you, no lover,
he having left years ago,
you work so hard,
going to work every morning
in this city of so many people,
why can’t you find someone,
and yet
at the same time
fills you with hope …..
Chris Butters
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THAT BEAUTIFUL SENTENCE
the way you no longer
knock yourself out about
every single capitalist injustice,
but instead turn
to your other lives,
being a lover, being a gardener,
the struggle is long,
sometimes the fulcrum lies elsewhere,
but when the moment to change things
comes in all its dazzling clarity
you still seem to know
what time it is, despite a history
of uphill battles, throw
everything you have
into it, like a cowgirl
furiously wrestling a steer
to the ground,
like that saying you copied
what seems like a million years ago
from a wall in the depths
of the drug treatment program
because tt struck you
as true
because it struck you
as accurate
because it struck you
as beautiful
because it was in accord
with your heart
oh, lord,
give me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change,
the courage to change
the things I can ,
and the wisdom,
the wisdom to know
the difference
and then,
afterwards,
when you were finished,
you got up from your chair
and walked over
to the park
you still
remember
that beautiful sentence.
Chris Butters
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