Samples of the poet’s work:

SLOW LEARNER

For thirty years I scratched the itching bites
and heard my patient momma pitch soap.
Stubborn me tried most everything but,
Stubborn she repeated, "Rub in soap".
Vinegar worked a little.
Through wrinkled nose, "Rub in soap".
In year 31 a horde
of super-pterodactyl skeeters
took their pound of flesh
from my butt and thighs.
I couldn't scratch fast enough,
pleaded for her vinegar.  She lied.
"I'm out of vinegar; rub in soap."
I wet the bar; I rubbed in soap.
"It doesn't work!"
"Let it dry."
I reached back to scratch;
she grabbed my hands.
"It itches!"
"Don't scratch."
"Ma-a-a-a-a!!"
"Wait."
Ma knew....you keep it brief dealing with a crazed animal.
Like curfewed lights blinking off,
one by one, the bites calmed down.
Reason returned.  She let go my hands.
"See, it only takes a little time."
"Right, Ma, only 31 years."

AQUA

As close to being God
as man can find,
at once as lawed
and arbitrary,
contained and free,
I greet you
up from the bowels of the earth
down from prevailing winds,
forever the same, different,
benevolent, capricious,
willfully divine.

Whim rain forest and desert alike,
my will to bear or sink,
bring gold, dross, gain, loss.
Enamored of the moon,
drawn to the sun,
I cozen planets into believing
I will desert my sweet earth's pull.

I escape your hand, so
capture your soul.
I allow you to trust
in the alchemy of levees,
locks, dams, and bridges,
mirror your grace, lure
you into lifetimes at my edge
where you laugh on my back.

In time you forget
there is no man-made
I cannot devalue.
I have taught you
with mud slides,
quicksand, sinkholes.
You have drunk at my pools
all your years and I am no wise
diminished.  You do not learn.
Even the bear and the elephant
sleep not at my edge.

IN THE GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

You really don't need to be so
unpleasant.  What I'm doing now
is digging a new bed for my daffodil
collection.  Technically, it's called
double digging, but I can see
from your impatience, you don't
really care to indulge in technicalities.

It's so deep because I'm thorough.
My father would have called it
dad-blamed stubborn.  My mother
would have readjusted his thinking,
telling him I concentrated on results
to the exclusion of random criticism.
I choose to simply say I am thorough.

Did you know that Roman soldiers
took daffodil bulbs into battle, actually
ate them?  I learned that on Martha
Stewart.  Yes, I thought you'd find that
interesting, with all those wilderness
survival books you've been reading.
Why don't you try one?  As you can
see, I have plenty and I've washed
them all carefully so I wouldn't transfer
any disease organisms.  They're just
as clean as the new potatoes I serve
scrubbed and boiled for dinner.

No, I don't think they cooked them;
at least, Martha said they ate them
right from their pack.  How does it
taste?  I thought they might taste
a little like onions or garlic.

You're mumbling, dear.  Martha said
that the name for the genus Narcissus
came from the Greek word narkoum,
meaning to make numb.  What are you
doing down in my trench?  I can't
work with you crawling around in there
and I do intend to have my daffodils
planted before lunch.  Martha is such a
useful information source.  Why, I
learned from her why the deer will eat
my tulips but not my daffodils.  All
of the genus contains an alkaloid
throughout the plants that deer avoid.
Daffodils make such cheerful
announcements to spring, don't you
agree?  My dear, you are looking
disagreeable, but so still.  It's obvious
that I will just have to work around
you since you're being so stubborn
about getting out of there.  Now this
illustrates the difference between
stubborn and thorough – you have no
well-thought-out reason for staying
down there and yet you refuse to move.
You'll get out when I start replacing
the dirt.  It's amended with peat,
compost, and sand for good drainage.
I've also added just enough manure
to encourage the red worms to help
with the composting...

Read Joyce’s poem “Bambie” on Aabye’s Baby.

Hear Oak Dirge - R. Joyce Heon, June 15, 1999  (WAV file [633K])

Hear Split Personality - R. Joyce Heon, July 6, 1999  (WAV file [642K])

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