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Michael Estabrook

Cave Dwelling


We've finished raising our children

they're out on their own

with jobs and houses and apartments,

planning weddings and a baby,

the next generation almost here.

So what do we - the soon-to-be grandparents -

do now? Our practical usefulness is over.

We aren't necessary anymore for money or housing

or food or clothing or cars -

so what do we do now?

In Paleolithic times our cave-dwelling ancestors

cared for their aging parents and grandparents,

fed them and kept them safe

from giant bears and saber-toothed tigers,

tucked way in the rear of the caves,

where their function, apparently,

was advice-giving. But today?

Do young people really need our advice,

stale, antiquated, practical?

We'll see, but for now

we better plan on keeping our own

little cave warm and lit and dry

for as long as we can.



FACES NIBBLING GRASS


I never owned a horse

or felt much like riding one,

but there's a corral

off Main Street

with horses in it.

They run and jump

or simply stand,

their long necks bent down

towards the ground,

faces nibbling grass.

How would a hard horse body

feel beneath me? How

would it be

to gallop away,

gripping a sleek

black mane in my tight fists,

wind blowing through

my hair?


[Index]

Thunder Sandwich #26 - Summer/Fall 2005