i never listen
when someone says it’s boring
i always find fun
North Dakota wins
kindness, camping, paddling
and late-night sunsets
Earth lodge history
and indigenous genius
round out this cycle
with Art Deco touch
to capitalize the north
and give us this view
all in a day’s work:
this “boring” state makes dreams bright
campfires and all
from flat Dakota
emerges a river trail
hard on legs and kids
but water wins views
however it meanders
giving life to all
from womb to witness
our baby sees Mt. Rushmore
thirteen years later
even butterflies
and puppies couldn’t withhold
their love for the road
just one hour out
you can shed your city life
for backpacking dreams
best friends forever
no continent can destroy
the love they have built
my oldest happy?
so hard for me to earn now.
worth every penny.
life lived in moments
from crises to remedies
(one day’s event course)
broken cars and drains
cannot break twenty-one years
of kept promises
so let’s build fires
to burn the losses of life
and collars of hope
because even pup
knows how to tolerate pain
as peonies pop
strawberry rhubarb
can’t save our relationship
no matter how sweet
i’ll have to find words
to fill the lattice loopholes
between bites of love
ready for summer
with their nightly hammock fest
childhood remains
walk until you can’t
then pull a hundred grass roots
out of the flowers
buy new bicycle
for youngest daughter’s growth spurt
(get new tape for yours)
visit local art
at museum exhibit
amazement beckons
a Sunday funday
filled with every last life lived
in these bright moments
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