River of wine

There is a chair somewhere that you stripped and repainted
green
That we sat in when we were not yet broken
down
And I see it by that red 1950's chrome kitchen table with the rusted legs
we bought at circa
and in the living room there's the tragic civil war general lamp you surprised me with after
I passed over it as too dear
and the screen door that opens to the back porch that we opened every morning to let Maggie and Bird greet the day
and sniff out the groundhog that ate the neighbor's corn

You Keep On Keeping On

"be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it."