Home one morning to find my
\nhat and gloves hard with frost on the spade handle.
\nMaybe you\u2019d take my silence for a green
\nthe sun gives to the shadowgrass.
\nAnd, as you boil the kettle to melt the drain
\nI\u2019d watch a whole life come and go
\nin the very place I waited:
\npruning shears, a wheelbarrow,
\na rake, a hose wound halfway \u2013<\/p>\n
there you go \u2013
\nbending to where a stepladder,
\nunfolded all summer, made perfect
\nstepping stones in the hard-packed light.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I owned a house by the sea,
\na cobbled walk, a hedge on one side
\nof a sloping garden with a kitchen-view<\/p>\n
onto beach where,
\na mile or so further, an ocean began,
\nand, to this day begins.<\/p>\n
In his ninety-first summer
\nmy father turned up at the front door with
\na parrot named Blue who spoke four words:<\/p>\n
\u2018Enough\u2019, \u2018Go\u2019, \u2018Help\u2019, \u2018Never\u2019.
\nI fed them, dressed him,
\nbathed him, let him talk when he wanted.<\/p>\n
After, it could be next week,
\nor tomorrow,
\nI\u2019ll take the cobbled walk, its mile<\/p>\n
of sand and slope, those dunes,
\nand swim in the same direction
\nthat parrot flew one morning when,<\/p>\n
with kitchen window open, cage open,
\nI spoke a word of his,
\na hooked claw on first finger, lifting,<\/p>\n
and listened as he repeated back,
\njust once,
\nthen took to the air, just once.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eagle River, 2017 Home one morning to find my hat and gloves hard with frost on the spade handle. Maybe you\u2019d take my silence for a green the sun gives to the shadowgrass. And, as you boil the kettle to melt the drain I\u2019d watch a whole life come and go in the very place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[371,372],"tags":[375],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n