Sauvie Island Gift

Not this bird, but listen. In the woods we hear the sound, a hollow knocking high above. Startled by us on the path below, a remarkable creature takes flight and lands on a treeside nearby. A shaft of sunlight penetrates the crested head and oh, such delight. Dryocopus pileatus, the largest woodpecker in North America! His ruby crest illumined, his face marked by a black stripe on a white background, the long feathered body, a strong dark beak. Minutes later we witness the flap and flight glide as the Pileated woodpecker circles and is gone. A Sauvie Island gift.

Holding Family

We carry the past in us. It informs our moving forward.

How can it be otherwise?

A line of garments moving out over the yard on a pulley line.

A backyard with two Modesto Ash trees and a sidewalk leading to a garage.

How is it I can’t see the future I will become?

The smell of wet clothes in a woven wicker basket on a flawless summer day.

A Maytag wringer washer on a back porch by the door to the stoop.

Mother’s hands, fishing for garments, one by one.

Load after load. The hot water, the clothes soaking wet.

Clothes pins, a small hand making them known.

 Pressing each one open with 8 year old fingers,

I add Pajamas, underwear, T-shirts, skirts, blouses, Levis, and towels.

Swaying along into the yard the line squeaks and sags,

Holding a family.

Sue

March 5, 2012

Not the graphite self-portrait, but rather...

Old stairs1. Photo by Donna Pollach