Three Poems by Bill Routhier

the miraculous is so

the miraculous is so
and we so adulty
wave it away
as if so so
complacency in copious riches
another Edenic day
ho hum
a blue jay feather
I seed them daily
one left this thin one
blue black iridescent striped
bend and it springs back
all air and
light as a
is there another thing
close?
as elegant
the perfect lifter

run the tip over the
cheek of the baby
with the eyes that have just seen
the all of the universe
the most beautiful jewels
oh coo coo baby
who sits on the polished wood floor
scooching on her bum across it
like a water strider on a pond
so proud to be the best bum scoocher

people parade the stage
everyday
miraculous

the rain has left
outside my cabin
on the grass
diamonds that shine
the night’s way to my door
why must we always
ask for more?

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the ever wary blue jays

the ever wary blue jays
outside my front door,
easily startled,
landing and lifting
by way of bird magic,
hollow bones and
air grasping feathers

they however sometimes
don’t notice me observing,
unmoving, behind the windows
they peck at the seed
I scattered this morning,
as every morning,
a group of three today
congenial, non-combative,
since there is plenty

their brash blue,
the white at the ends of wings,
make them a striking team
beside the wood pile
yet to be stacked,
that I feel the weight of

even with the randomness
of predatory death in nature
I would exchange my now
for theirs

---

the grass outside

the grass outside
freely growing
knows no mowing
oh, that’s not exactly true
a little weed whacking where
I walk to the door and
on the edge of road
to be neighborly
but mainly it just grows
in the small field behind
grasshappyweedy
of its own design
goldenrod and black-eyed susans
tall crabgrass
and whatever else
like a young boy’s tousled hair
it looks correct
as a friend now gone would say
with the small pines
and mountain behind
let it be as it is
as I too wish to be
not cut down
reshaped for the sake
of convention
another’s idea
of propriety
we’re freer here
grass and weeds
have the chance to be
imperfect
but you see
the opposite
is actually more
correct

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