It Could Have Been A Dream - Doug von Koss

[Larry Robinson]

It Could Have Been A Dream

The fun began at the Gratitude Garage
as I rode away to Poets Park
on a rented bike named
Astonishment
 
There on the edge of Blackwater Pond
Rumi and Neruda, like little boys
laughed as they swiped some of
Mary Oliver's Peonies
 
Mary, distracted by wild geese
tripped on some fallen branches 
as she journeyed into the world
 
She waved me on as I careened past a red barn 
where Wendell Barry argued with Galway Kennel
something about Galway’s pigs running loose
in Wendell’s apple orchard.
 
Robert Bly and William Stafford
blocked my path as they
exchanged morning poems about
snowy fields and parading elephants
 
Pumping up the hill past The House of Belonging
I noticed David Whyte hard at work
returning borrowed metaphors 
to Rilke and Machado
Riding out beyond the field of right doing and wrong doing
there on red brocade pillows, under a weeping willow,  
an Arab Sheppard and a Jewish Father
were eating fresh dates with Naomi Nye

I was so excited I nearly missed
Yehuda Amichai’s lost goat
drinking from the Sultan's pool
 
I did see Lisel Mueller giggling with Monet
something about his myopic eyesight
as he finished a painting in the park

On my way back
I bought a few golden apples
from Yates’ fruit stand
and hurried along

At the Gratitude Garage sharing apples
with Alison Luterman she gently said
she would help me find my lost mind

I said, "No Alison, I lost my camel."

She said, "No Doug.  It was your mind, but it's ok."
 
          - Doug von Koss