The Winter Olympics

Pyeong Chang 2018 

The Winter Games, so full of life

The skis, the skates, the bobsled track

A time to shelve the world’s strife 

The Winter Games, so full of life

Young ice dancers, man and wife 

Strive to shine and lead the pack 

The Winter Games, so full of life

The skis, the skates, the bobsled track

Lindsey Vonn

Down the slope, eighty miles an hour 

We’ve never seen such strength and power

Cutting corners, thrill upon thrill

Lindsey Vonn, the queen of downhill 

Over eighty World Cup titles

Damage to her limbs and vitals

Many a crutch, many a pill

Lindsey Vonn, the queen of downhill 

Competing now at thirty-three 

Her last Olympics, this must be 

The skier’s credo, speed and will 

Lindsey Vonn, true queen of downhill  

   On the Olympic Ice: A Diamonte

                  Speed-Skater

               Lean,  muscular

        Dodging, darting, lunging

Race, competition, music, costume

       Leaping, twirling, gliding

               Lithe, graceful  

                  Ice-Dancer

Life Puzzles (No. 2)

Marriage, that most curious of journeys

Complexity — consternation — confusion

Two different persons, one single union

Like a ship in a storm

Or the kiddies at play

How does this smorgasbord even survive?

My wife and I, born into alternate worlds

She from Philadelphia; I, the North Woods 

Friends are amazed, think we’re alien beings

Yet we’ve stuck together for

            Fifty

                        Odd

                                    Years

My wife came of age on the Main Line

A student of classics at the High School for Girls

French Literature, Balzac and Baudelaire

Weekend outings at the Philly Art Museum

Or Wanamakers for tea sandwiches and pink lemonade

The passions of her soul: The Opera, The Symphony

And following the Queen and her flock

Meanwhile

my family lived in the central U.P.

A house made of pine in a forest on the river

Youthful snippets:

            Camping at Mason Park

            Shooting hoops with my brother on the snow and ice

            Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at the Saturday matinee

The highlight:  The U.P. State Fair at Escanaba

            The demolition derby…the freak show…the Country Music Cavalcade

And most thrilling of all: The Green Bay Packers!!!

So how did we come together?  — such a blur

But she thought the North Woods romantic

And I found the Big City EYE-POPPING!

We’ve attended the opera for all the years since

Resistant at first but

            I’ve slowly improved 

Late August we go to the county fair

which sets my heart thumping

The goats and the sheep, bloomin’ onions, the bumper cars

My wife loves the rabbits and the ferris wheel

If it weren’t for me, she might have missed out

I think this must be the key secret of marriage:

Each brings different treats to the table

The First Day of Classes

Autumn quarter had just begun

I was gathering myself in my office

They assigned me to teach Geology Two

I knew nothing about it, felt nauseous

I looked at my watch, it was 9:58

My class was scheduled for ten

 I frantically searched for some lecture notes

Finding none, I grabbed paper and pen

I raced across campus to find my room

But they’d locked the entire first floor

I called the office to get some help

They sent me to Room 404

Now  it was seventeen after ten

 Over half of my students had left

I nodded to the class and hemmed and hawed

I had trouble even catching my breath

My topic for the day — the origin of earth

This was something I knew nothing about

I told a feeble joke about getting drunk

The back row stood up and walked out

The rest of the class just stared at me

They were shocked that their teacher was a fraud

My face turned red and my heart was pounding

My whole being was visibly flawed

I said a few words about summer vacation

I wanted to scream, “Please stay here”

More of the students were packing their books

I too wished that I could disappear

Finally there was only one student left

A red-haired young woman with glasses

She said she hoped I’d get better

Geology was the worst of her classes

At that very moment I woke from my dream

There weren’t any students in sight

I haven’t taught a class for umpteen years

You’d think I’d be over the fright