Speaking with Turtles
I spoke with a turtle on the road
This morning
He wanted to be squashed by a
Speeding sixteen wheeler
But I wanted to slide him
Along the bank back to his rushing creek
Earlier an osprey
Plunged into our pond and disappeared
For an unaccountably long time
Before bursting out of the water
And arcing off towards the valley
Finding solace this spring
Has been hard
With driving rains and
Dark skies
But endless new and hatching animals
Hint at wild unknown
Darkness
And light
Meditating in New Hampshire
A comma of snow
Fell off a black branch
When I opened my eyes
From a deep meditation
In the New Hampshire woods
I lusted after
The woman of the house
Whose husband the potter was
In Cambridge trying to
Sell his wares
To support the huge farmhouse
Where we all were smoking dope
And arguing about
Which of our many spiritual paths
Would take us to enlightenment
Robert A. Miller is a journalist, poet and short story writer. His work has been published in Up the River Journal, Trailer Park Quarterly, Manhattan Linear, The Writing Self, and Change Magazine, as well as by Holt Rinehart and Winston, and has also appeared in the Albany Times Union. He retired not long ago from New York City’s public television station, WNET, as director of educational publishing. Since then, he has lived in the northern Catskills.