My Temporary World

With special thanks to Issa
My first daughter
Who never became

Yes,

The world of dew
Is the world of dew
And yet...
And yet....

Prologue: I brought my girl friend a carton of orange juice today with her morning papers and coffee, but, like she said, I could not visit her today. She did not look prepared to see anyone this morning when she came to the door. I had to go back to give her the continuing report of the SF Grand Jury for June 2009. I wobbled my way home from Broadway after getting off the bus.

I began here
In my temporary world
With acceptance
And acknowledgment
Grew from there.

My name for her
Was purple
For some time
Which she no long does
For her hair.

I too got beyond
Beginnings...
Beyond acceptance...
Behind acknowledgments...

To what must be done
From the heart
And a patience
With what is available
And necessary...

Something to stay open to....Joy
Generates

The Politics of Experience:
My experience -
Anybody else’s
Behavior.

The last four lines say much, Peter.

And necessary...
stands out as questionable to me, but I'm not requesting an explanation.

Mary

Peter, I read this the day you posted it and have since re-read it a few more times. I still don't know what to make of it, though it seems to me to be a very personal poem, either for you, or for your friend, perhaps for both of you.

Les