The Visitors Came Today

the visitors came today

a hundred miles from anywhere
the visitors came today
at least in my ear
the old phone rang -
hello? hello?

and the past becomes a present
given – a gift of connection and
here and there
a dropped call

fumbling with the buttons
we try it again. hello?
are you well? and
did you know?

Kathy Bowman

Changing Times

changing times

there is only so much fog
you can write
before the sun demands a turn, breaking through
the ice crystals like some drama king.

but times have changed.
that’s no chariot
of the sun, just a Prius rolling along the sky.
and the GPS,
while right, is still off course.

over there, you can just see summer, still
off to the south.
they call Apollo a fine lyre player, and say he is known
as a good man
on the harmonica, drums and electric guitar.

but technology
is different. so hi yo, Toyota. blast out
that satellite radio
give a sunny day another whirl. and
there’s the light.

Kathy Bowman

Coffee Table Books for a Foggy Day in the County

coffee table books
for a foggy day in the County

books on big birds or at least
big books on birds

two books about funerary art
on the far side of the world

a scatter of poetry books
yes someone does buy them!

a stretch of yoga books and
recordings for letting go ...

and then there’s one
trash novel just for fun

and an empty tea cup
with a coffee table exemption

Kathy Bowman

Your poem about the Wallowa Country
can be published here. Send a note to
livethelifeulove (at) yahoo.com for details.
And we're not snobs - you don't
have to live here to write!

In Flight

Prairie Creek in Winter

Zumwalt Note

Zumwalt note

The Aschenbrenner place,
new green roofs and all, is over there -
though just one original building still stands.

Now it sports new green roofs. You can see
them from this spot, where the
Zumwalt school house once stood.

That school - by day, that's where
my father and his siblings went: though
English was their second language.

Over there at the homestead, the family
German (Volga) Russians all -
"only talked German" at home.

from Zumwalt trivia from Gail West.

Post-Holiday Tradtion

post-holiday tradition

clack your beak, O eagle
over fresh placenta
in the fields -- january
is the season for calving
here, and steaming
fresh delicacies abound

The Game Nowhere

the game nowhere

paper, scissors, rock; humus, scythe, stone -
a game of chance in the back country.

take one step the next, another –
then leave or don’t leave your mark – if you can.

however invisible or inevitable, you take
your chances, where pristine's a state of mind.

in a million years, how many footprints
human, animal, mythical came before?

paper, scissors, rock; humus, scythe, stone -
your foot makes the next guess.


Kathy Bowman

Last Minute Shopping (hunting season)

Last minute shopping
(hunting season)

t'is the night before opening season - the store
closes in five. look at this: the last can on the shelf
is past the pull date. grab it anyway. tonight at camp,
take a chance. open it, nestle it crooked over half
ashed campfire coals; then stir in untreated springwater.

as all good last-minute backwoodsmen know,
giardia and salmonella are for sissies; and bad whiskey
cures all. take the shopping cart for a spin,
tough guy. you may yet bag a good campfire story.

Kathy Bowman