I Am--You Are--We Could Be

image from artflakes.com

I Am--You Are--We Could Be

“You were given this life precisely because

you are strong enough to live it.”--Anonymous.

I am from darkness,

and places of magnificent

light, just like the others.

I am from

deep Douglas Fir forests that blanket burly foothills that hunch up

like massive shoulders around seven volcanos, living large on the

lava beds in the Pacific Rim’s Ring of Fire, alongside the vast inland

sea that’s dotted with luscious green fern-covered islands, connected

to the actual ocean by a long wide Strait hispanic tongue that churns

saltwater over hundreds of miles of Sound, bays, harbors, super-ferry

lanes, tides, & playgrounds for passionate pods of orca.

I am from

countless men who have drown, who went down to the sea in ships,

then deeper to eternal rest; always a poor swimmer, but regardless,

fascinated with boats & ships of all kinds, even though the visceral 

nightmarish recall of perfect storms with eighty-foot waves haunts me.

I am from 

the passionate coupling of a 16-year old singer, who looked like Deanna

Durbin, & a mysterious serviceman who spent one night of eros with the

girl in the back seat of his Buick, before he shipped out for the conflict in

Europe in 1943; a faceless nameless young man who may have lived or

died without me ever knowing him.

I am from

a surrogate father, my maternal grandfather, who was an accomplished

woodsman, hunter, fisherman, artist, & a Socialist; self-taught & brilliant,

who painted surrealistic landscapes, & taught me about history, science,

philosophy, politics & life--& a terrible trio of stepfathers, the first of which

who believed for a time that he actually was my father, until the fateful

day we both realized the folly of that absurd assumption.

I am from

a very long line of muckrakers, loose cannons, malcontents, instigators,

& pariahs--freedom fighters, insurrectionists, teachers, warriors, writers,

pacifists & dreamers--& Scotland consistently captivates the dreamscape,

where I feel comfortable in kilts, love the windswept lochs, & roam the

endless verdant highlands--though, in this lifetime, I’ve never been there.

I am from

places of confidence, of over-achievement, of debate, of lecture, &

of performance--more than comfortable in the front row with my hand

up, or at the podium supported by power points, or on the proscenium

spouting Shakespeare, or happily at the microphone in a dark coffee

house reciting poetics.

I am from my world,

individually unique,

yet willing to share.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Poetics

Would you like to listen to me read this Haibun to you?