Daddy Long Arms On the Rise
Ayres, Bill
Daddy Long Arms Back in my hometown, there's a man (he is old now.) who would not let go of the coffin in which his wife lay. They finally took him by the arms and moved him back a...
...Bill Ayres Commonweal I 8 November 5,1999...
...Nobody would look at him with his balled up fists...
...No one saw the blood...
...It pulses from the flames you set loose, from the engines you start to pull the heat out of your refrigerator, to push the heat out of your house, to take you away from yourself...
...It even pours off of the brakes that stop you from going too far And setting the world on fire...
...His cry of pain was a cry of grief...
...We were certain that he could reach out and bring small things back to life —birds, houseplants, guinea pigs— and find anything that was lost that would fit in his hand: On the Rise Not the sun...
...No one knew till she was buried...
...You give it away when you hand someone change...
...They thought they had him clear, but when they dropped the lid it took off the tips of his fingers...
...As a boy I would watch him out of the corner of my eye, pushing his change to the edge of the store counter into his palm...
...As children, we'd speculate how long his fingernails grew in the land of the dead...
...They finally took him by the arms and moved him back a little...
...The sun is only light...
...It comes from you, the friction of your blood through your veins, the air swept through your lungs and coming out hot, your moods, the flush of your skin, and the steam that comes off you, emitted when you rub against your clothes, part the air, touch and stroke, rub things together, shuffle your feet, chew your food, pet the dog...
Vol. 126 • November 1999 • No. 19
