Mark Weber

XV

You still have your arms in the air?

invigorating isn’t it?

Simplicity and symmetry

I’ve been drying apples all week

Yoga is the pathway to quietude

Listening with the eyes closed

Withdrawal to the inner realms
of infinite calmness, deeper breaths

Would anybody believe that I once had
a conversation with Lightnin’ Hopkins?
in his own way, a Buddha

There is a deep quiet at mid-afternoon
on a summer’s day — stasis — a mirage

There is no goal to meditation
I am returning to the source

Ronald Baatz

THIS SUNLIGHT

I remember
this sunlight
from childhood.
This was the sunlight
of long summers.
Of the black river
on the other side
of the narrow road.
Of the small garden that
had nothing but tomatoes.
Of the birds that came
for the orange berries.
This was the sunlight
of all the early sorrows.
Of happiness
resilient as grass.
A book left
in a hot car.

ZERX chapbook No. 66 | August 2010