The Poetry, Essays and Personal Journals of Larry L. Dill
When my boys were little, I would give each one of them a stick and say "Now break that" and of course they could. And then I'd say "Now tie those sticks up in a bundle and try to break that" and of course they couldn't. And I'd say, "Now that's family."
--Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight in David Lynch's "The Straight Story."
On Wrestling
for J and G
We talked about "The Wrestler"
Over whiskey and beer
In Lance Armstrong's bar in Austin.
"He's another wrestler of sorts," I said.
"Too bad he's not here."
We wrestled with the meaning of the film
And what it meant to us.
Three wrestlers, too,
Me and You and your new man.
And I felt like Mickey Rourke
Sitting there between you.
Tired and beaten down by life.
My best years gone.
But a wrestler to the end.
And you two,
In love and laughing
Were wrestling too
With what next to do.
Build a cabin in the woods
Or just take on Paris
Straight up, no chaser
The way lovers often do.
Love is complicated
Just like in that movie
And life rarely works out
The way we want it to.
But your eyes sparkled with hope last night
And you know who you are.
You may loose a few fights along the way
But maybe the two of you on a tag team
Can win the war.
On Flight 450 from New York to Austin February 2, 2009
for Ron
Above the clouds an ocean like horizon lies outside my window
A sea of white as waves of foam wash in beneath the wings.
The ground is visible now below.
Gray fields and crooked streams.
Perhaps Kentucky or Tennessee.
The Mississippi must be near.
The great divide between the east and west.
And where should I be in the time I have left?
Over here? Over there?
Beer and Vodka in my brain
All these unmanageable chores remain.
Should I try to stop judging like a god on high?
Be an angel of mercy like the ripple in a brook?
Or cast a shadow of subversion in a revolutionary book?
Like Nixon said, "I'm not a crook."
But I'm humbled by my blessings and my sins
And wouldn't even know
Where my confession should begin.
I'll see my brother tomorrow night.
Maybe I can start there to make things right.
February 2009 New Hope Journal
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copyright 2009 by Larry L. Dill