Mantra with Commentary
Con/Jur/d, 4/15/2022

This NOW
is
the rest
of your
life

COMMENTARY:

By the time/ opened/ the camera/aligned the shot/ last seasons/ whirlwind of maple leaves/ were still/ lifeless in the dry gutter/ after last night’s/ Spring rains

POEM:

Due to the influence of trees

Because our parents
liked trees, we spent
a great deal of time
in forests growing up
pulled in 2 directions
the undergrowth and
the canopy, since we
were expected to
garden and climb.

I wish I could tell those
brothers and communicate
to my daughter, plus
the helix lineage
this one Truth (possibly, Law)

This Now is the rest
of your life,
to make it a mantra
a sewable patch,
a bumper sticker,
and to treat it like
a tatoo

to live and die
by this 
has consequences,
of course, ignoring it
does too