Monday, February 25, 2008

The Mango Goddess

My wife is the mango goddess
not by birthright or decree
but by a local democracy
When she moves through the fruit section
squeezing, watching, and listening,
the locals ask her
about the qualities of mangos
"Why do they ask me these things?"
she asks in a Jewish tone
"Because you are the mango goddess, " I reply
"But I don't look remotely..., I'm Irish,
I should know about potatoes,
Why don't they ask me about potatoes?"
"Because you are the mango goddess, " I reply
She knows the difference between ripe and rotten
She passes judgement on raw and rare
Her village is as global as her vision
She commands the economy
and pays her subjects well
When she is out of the grocer's
and in my arms late at night
she asks me why I chose this night
for toast and tea
"Because you are the mango goddess," I reply

9/97

copyright Trevor Haug 1997
from "Poems from the Hedge"

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Tulip Yellow Moon

Tulip yellow moon
the children looked for you
this afternoon
while you were hiding
waiting for the sky
to finish bleeding
Then you rose and hung
from a dark pine bough

04

copyright 2004 Trevor Haug
from "Tulip Yellow Moon, Verses for a Child-like Tribe"

Spring for Beginners


She cannot yet turn over
so she sits on the lawn 
in her car seat while the twins 
and the neighbor's cat
orbit her world

She cannot help but see
what we have been missing - 
the budding maple
six stories high
an apartment for blackbirds 
and mourning doves

Beyond, against the blue,
mute clouds
try to invent a dance
that we fail to imagine
because we rarely look up

Her eyes move to
her first movie screen,
the side of the white house
that shows all of our shadows
in the afternoon

The cat and she
hear the trucks growl
as they gear down
to pass through
town

She feels the same slow breeze
that feathers all our faces
while New England greens

04

copyright 2004 Trevor Haug
from "Poems of New England"

Boabab


I ask a local how old is the tree
60 years, he says with little confidence
I'm thinking at least 200
Either way, it is beyond our span
Another tells me it is hollow inside
and can hide a whole village
So it has uses
beyond holding my mouth open
And I ask myself,
Why would such a village
need to hide?

07

copyright 2007 Trevor Haug
from "Poems of Africa"