February Reminder

February reminded the city of the season

lawns were sparkling concrete

still ponds were half-frozen

ducks buried their beaks in feathers

as they slept on the edge of the ice

the flowers that had sprung up in warmth

hung their frosted heads in regret.

Cap Hansens

When Journey came on the jukebox

the bartender turned off the speakers

I felt like Odysseus sailing into the harbor of Ithaca

I ordered another Manny’s and left a large tip.

Snowpocalypse

And he carried me away by the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

Revelation 21:10

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

Mark 10:15

I still get excited when it snows

even as I’m approaching my late twenties

I’ll call my friends to tell them it’s snowing

Snow cancels plans

frees up schedules

makes traffic stand still

gets kids out of school

puts them at play

stops rich neighborhoods

the same as poor

Busy people complain

about the inconvenience

while the rest of us

search sheds and garages

trying to locate poorly used sleds

Snow makes everything magic

transforms mundane landscapes

into fairy-tale kingdoms

un-kept yards and dilapidated houses

become something mysterious and new

a thin covering of white

makes ugly things beautiful

In St. John’s revelation

he saw the new Jerusalem

coming down from heaven

I imagine it looked a lot like a snow day.

The Lips at Hallelujah

[Title is a line stolen from Emily Dickinson. Look at me be all literary!]

When the sun is shining as hard as it can

and the ground birds bounce in the ferns

singing quiet, simple love songs

its not hard to put ones lips at hallelujah,

but I don’t think this ease

makes them any less beautiful.

Signs

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

Matthew 16:3

I’m not one to put much weight in signs

but this morning I slept in

holding a stubborn grudge

against this particular Monday

when the sun

came bouncing off

my neighbors house

through my window

my eyes opened into slits

the first thing I saw

was the wolf figurine

you got me in Colorado

howling in silhouette

on my window-seal

maybe I'm reading too much into it,

but how is that not a sign

of the start of a good day?

An Indifferent Valentine's Day

We crowded in a small basement apartment

to watch a sci-fi movie on a small laptop

split a six pack of beer

and it was Valentine’s Day

The beer was not a statement

of bitterness or loneliness

it was Red Hook’s spring seasonal

a brown ale: Mud Slinger

and it was delicious

We watched Moon

a movie about an astronaut

who spends three years in solitude

working for an energy corporation

on the dark-side of the moon

who may be going insane

this was not a metaphor for our lives

our watching it was not meant to give the middle finger

to romances or Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan films

we watched it because it was well reviewed

and seemed interesting

While all three of us were single

our gathering was not meant as an embrace of this

we were not celebrating the freedom of singleness

we were friends watching a movie on a Monday night

because we didn’t have class in the morning

and felt like watching a film

I don’t hate Valentine’s Day

I’m pretty sure I would like it,

quite a lot, if I were coupled

but this year it was a holiday for other people

like Cinco de Mayo

or Chinese New Year

or a stranger’s birthday

My only grievance

is that my indifference is misinterpreted

as a protest of external pressures to be coupled

Valentine’s Day was simply Monday

when I had beer to share and a movie to watch.

8. Georgia Lee, Tom Waits

[This is a stanza from a mixed cd poem I've been working on. It didn't fit. But I think it works as a stand alone poem.]

Why wasn't God watching? Why wasn't God listening? Why wasn't God there for Georgia Lee?

It’s hard

to believe in

the kingdom come

when I hear stories

about kids on the streets

being used for ugly things

instead of sleeping

through algebra class

where they ought to be.

Winthrop Souvenir

‘Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. Luke 15: 23-24

Two years ago Ryan and I went camping

in the Methow Valley 10 miles up from Winthrop

while he slept off booze I went fishing

I hooked my biggest fish ever

in the slack water at the back of a tiny rapid

it was a whitefish and almost made it into my net

before it broke my rod and swam off with my stone-fly

I came back empty handed

The next morning we filled our stomachs with biscuits, gravy, and coffee

I bought a black souvenir t-shirt with a wolf on it

I had just heard a pack of wolves had come down from Canada

and were now living in the Methow Valley

so I was excited about my new t-shirt

A week later I couldn’t find the shirt

Two days ago I was cleaning out the trunk of my car

and found it in a crock-pot I had left back there

for some reason I’ve since forgotten

I haven’t taken the shirt off since.

Happy Hour at the Tin Hat

[Happy Valentines Day everyone. I hope all the disgustingly happy couples our there stay far far away from the rest of us decent folk on this gloriously rainy and gray day in the Northwest.]

I’m paying three dollars for something red and hoppy

in a country you wouldn’t know me in

listening to Dinosaur Jr over the jukebox

while the regulars next to me

imagine ways of reassembling pigs in sandwich form.

I doubt you’ve ever heard of Dinosaur Jr

and I know you don’t drink beer

and you’d probably roll your eyes

at the thought of putting bacon on pulled-pork.

Still, I think you’d enjoy it here--

but I'm two beers in on an empty stomach

and beginning to feel romantic

so I'm not too sure about my judgement on these matters.

Breathe Deep

“And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”-Acts 2:2

I found out my lungs

didn’t work right

in the middle of the night

when I was seven.

I woke up gasping

with a cinder block

on my chest.

My parents were quiet and frantic

in sweat-pants and bathrobes,

careful to keep the noise down

while my sister slept.

I remember getting into the minivan

then being on a table

with a cold stethoscope

against my bare skin,

the doctor telling me

to take deep breaths

moving his instrument

up and down my back and chest.

He turned to my parents

and tried to explain,

with big words

I didn’t recognize

and the gesture

of an open hand

closing into a fist.

The doctor left the room

and brought back an inhaler,

holding it to my lips

the palm of his other hand

on the back of my rib-cage

he said slowly:

“I want you

to try

and breath

deep”

At Least the Huskies Were Good Then

It was nacho day at school

the cafeteria smelled like artificial cheese

I was nine-years-old

in black sweat-pants

and a Washington Huskies t-shirt

eating a peanut-butter and banana sandwich

alone at the end of a lunch-room table

The girls closest to me

giggled and played “the apple game”

the rules were simple:

hold on to the stem

twist the apple until the stem breaks

while singing the alphabet

whatever letter the stem breaks on

is the first initial of your future spouse

They were at E when I noticed their game

E F G, H I J

the stem broke

and the girl holding the apple looked at her friends

as they looked at me and screeched

“JAKE TUCKER!”

to which she replied

“EWW! Gross.”

Sunrise at 10th and Sasamat

[the epigraph is cheesy, and sentiment is too. I can't always be sad or bitter, though it makes for more palatable poetry. I think the epigraph is, in a way, my attempt to make the psalm more than a 3rd Day lyric.]

I just edited this. in parentheses is the added bit, in brackets the bit I took out.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Psalm 36

the morning was clear and cold

my steps were stern and quick

on the way to the bus stop

I listened to punk rock

bitter funny lyrics

echoed in me

I scowled at my reflection

in the window of the bank

but the clouds were pink

against a baby-blue sky

that faded into shades of cream

with the sun peaking out

from between condo buildings

the scowl fled (and)

I took out my headphones

[to acknowledge

the love poem

on the horizon.]