Circling Home (eBook)

Table of Contents 12
Foreword: Senator Eugene M[sup(c)]Carthy 16
Preface: Cheryl Romney-Brown 18
I. PIONEERS 20
An Heirloom from Utah Pioneer Days 21
Photographs 23
Inherit the Promise 26
For Pioneers 29
Mexican Pilgrimage 31
A Family Story 35
Shadow 37
Sundays Below the Rocky Point 39
A Woman's Explanation to her Dead Father on Why She Marches Against the Bomb 40
In the Crook of His Neck 42
For Mother 44
Anatomy of an Arranged Marriage 46
The Burning Tree 48
Pounding Dust 50
II. SHATTERED HOUSES 53
Rituals 54
Brown Wrens 58
Gauguin 59
Prodigal Fields 61
A Peaceable Kingdom 64
The Victims 66
Mirage 67
A Day in Nantucket 69
Mother's Gift 71
Waiting for the X-Ray 73
Searching 74
For Les 76
The County Fair 78
Wings 80
Christina's Passion 82
Lament 84
On the First Day of Spring 86
September in Nonquitt 88
III. CIRCLING HOME 90
To My Eighteen-Year-Old Son 91
Taking Leave of the Farm 92
One Cold Icy Day 94
Across a Roman Piazza 96
The Embrace 98
Lifelines 99
The Arc 101
Connections 102
Climbing Mount St. Helena in August 106
Beauty and Birth 108
And then Daybreak 110
Through My Secret Garden 112
Games 116
Smiles 118
Orestian Rite 119
Circling Home 121
Notes 122
Biographies 123

An Heirloom from Utah Pioneer Days (p. 6)

Hidden away in a drawer

beneath my lace nightgown

lies Gréât Grandmother`s

rosé sachet.

An extravagant luxury

born in thé heart

of thé désert. Cuttings

cradled across endless

plains, pétais dried

from prized bushes,

lovingly nurtured

from parched sand.

Rare rosé pétais to saturate

a bridai bower. Musky

scent to soften hungry

children`s screams.

Opiate to salve

broken promises,

unfulfilled dreams.

Like frankincense

and myrrh, a célébration

of hope

in thé désert

passed from mother

to daughter, mother

to daughter, mother

to daughter.

At night, in my lace

gown, I remember

my future.

Photographs

1 (1846)

In thé rain-soaked crowd

at thé end of thé wharf,

she clutches thé loden cape

around her frail body.

It whips in thé sea wind.

She presses a handkerchief

to wet cheeks.

Her determined hand

once again brushes

thé dark hair away

from stinging lids.

Thèse eyes must seize

his silhouette,

burn forever thé curve

of her first-born`s

cleft chin into her mind.

As thé tall ship escapes

thé English dock, she lets

go of thé cape, waves.

Her palm at first beats

thé air like hummingbird`s

wings, but then slows down

like thé pendulum on death`s

clock. The small hand slaps

at thé wind long after

thé ship has sailed beyond sight,

toward Zion, God, America.

Dusk slips into thé ship`s empty

berth. The crowd déserts

thé angry sea. Her worn body alone

faces west.

The heaving deck shudders

with shivering passengers

reluctant to go below

as they capture their last look

at family, wave their farewell

to England. George Romney stands erect

at thé stern, a man about twenty,

garbed in black, clutching "thé Book

of Mormon" in both hands. His tearless

face, open with faith, stares west.

2 (1989)

My now grown-up son`s picture captures

his blond curls, blue eyes. A broad

smile floods his two-year-old face.

Snapped before he rocked with pain:

ear infections, allergies, dyslexia.

Last y ear frozen water pipes burst, deluging

thé basement. Ail of our family albums

ruined. I rummage in my large black

purse trying to find thé picture. My fingers

grasp only small change, paper clips,

a bright red lipstick, an old bail-point

pen.