May 2020
Bio Note: I am a Family Nurse Practitioner who has gone over to the dark side, now providing Mental Health
care to the patients I used to treat for athlete's foot and heartburn. I also write when some little thing strikes me as
worth putting down, like my second poem. It was sparked by an online post about borrowing sugar to make hummingbird nectar.
i ain't no smarter now
Did you know that hamburgers are made with unexpected things?
Christopher Palmer "The Getting of Wisdom"
i was young when i first heard
that fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom, for those of us without
i had a mother who could easily
put the fear of God into any child
and so began my journey
here in my sixties
i have to wonder if accumulating knowledge
has led me any closer to wisdom
for example:
i have made hamburgers
from start to finish with my dad
i mean from the very start
butchering a cow
cutting the carcass down
to manageable pieces
trimmed and sorted out
the right proportions of
meat to fat, run them through
the grinder to the pan
shaped the ground meat into balls
mashed those between waxed papers
one at a time on a manual press
and grilled the resulting patties
to savory perfection
that's the knowledge part
but wisdom? i ain't no smarter now
because in the face of knowing
exactly what is in my greasy treat
i will still eat two burgers
when one would more than do
add cheese and all the fixings
look around for the chips
or potato salad, or both
then sit, stuffed and stupefied
wondering why i never learn
if mother were alive, i expect
she would throw more fear on the fire
(Originally appeared in Praxis Magazine)
for the hummingbirds
we are neighbors
though never neighborly before
no borrowed butter
no cross-fence conversations
there simply was no need
i had my life, you had yours
both filled with the urgencies
that kept us moving through each day
always moving
exhausted when night fell
until this covid thing
which sounds like corvid
don't you think
and crows remind me
that the hummingbirds,
precious hovering jewels,
need me more than ever
need the simple nectar
that i supply
which brings me back
to neighborly things—
nectar's made with sugar
granulated white
and nothing else
and in this time of cloistering
non-essential sallies curtailed
so many essentials gone
from supermarket shelves
i, and my sugar jar
are quite empty
so won't you be a good neighbor
and if you can, spare a cup
a teaspoon just won't do
to be returned some coming day
when viral fear has faded
if not for me, then please
for the hummingbirds
©2020 j.lewis
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the
author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual.
It is very important. -JL