I saw a sticker on a car coming home from work this afternoon.
One of those "international ovals" that used to indicate a foreign country
like France, Switzerland or, if you believe the TV commercials,
Detroit.

Now they stand for everything from the local swim team
to the driver's favorite species of dog
although pinning it on the driver might be unfair
probably better to say the owner.

The sticker I saw today, and it was a sticker not a magnet,
it was stuck on the window,
was OLF and it made me miss mom more than yesterday,
Mother's Day, did.

OLF stands for Our Lady of Fatima, the local Catholic Church
and it was adorning an SUV of appropriate size and sticker price for these parts.
Mom always called Fatima, Saint Olaf's because everyone around here calls it OLF
so it wasn't her fault.

Every time I, or my wife, politely corrected her she'd reply,
"I know" and then promptly call it Olaf's ten minutes later.
So today waiting for the green light on the way home
a little sadness as St. Olaf's SUV reminded me of mom.

and
I laughed.

.

                                 
                           Wolf Wolf Wolf
                      Wolf Wolf Wolf Wolf
                    Wolf Wolf Wolf Wolf W
                     Wolf Wolf Wolf Wolf W
                        Wolf Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                            Wolf Wolf Wolf
                   Wolf Wolf         Wolf Wolf
              Wolf Wolf Wolf  Wolf Wolf Wolf
          Wolf Wolf Wolf W olf  Wolf Wolf Wo
             Wolf Wolf Wolf    Wolf Wolf Wolf
                     Wolf Wolf           Wolf Wolf

"...A STRAIGHT LINE DRAWN CROOKEDLY INSIDE ME..."
( for David Olof Carney )

"Six months, if that...eh?"
inside the cancer
eating him cell by cell

life now
a death sentence
he couldn't live with it

"If it be now..."
Hamlet's solliquoy
comes to mind

in the car crash
his last laugh: "Thank you God!
You're a good sport!"

Fourteen years old,
Story untold
I fell in love with Charlie,
And he nerded
As never before

I still make coffee
For two,
Watching quietly
From every door frame
Grumpy olf soundman---
Needs to love too,
Strange namr,
Transparent shame,
Instant fame

Sold belongings
Become Itinerant
Poetry librarian,
Semi colons;
I use them to excess
Supported the sublime
With uncurbed---
Enthusiasms

Changing mind postponed
Demise by decades,
Later-life serendipity
Led to Authorland

I was born some assembly
Required,
Anything's possible with---
An extension cord
Cried,
Defied, denied,
Sighed,
Died,
Reapplied,
Mistakenly kills kitten,
Fears anything delicate

okuei auso gokis fiokl
aofik
spdok oglo pole olf 342
apoel fsol apol
allofl psolw volv zaz
lod pol eor akfor
lod von apol...
okuei auso gokis louk

As the leaves change in colour
Falling down to the ground
So is the weather getting colder
And from storm till sun a season passes by

Then the frozen wind will hit faces of the ones
Who defy the cold outside
While some of others hide in the safe houses built to escape
The coldness in the outdoor air

So will the blue sky show itself a little bit earlier
And a little bit longer as the days turn by
Day by day it will take some more time
Till the darkness will fall again

And so we come to the fourth time a year
Where everything and everyone is at it's fullest
From swimming to resting to having fun outside
Tanned skins and happy feelings are seen everywhere

This is how a year passed by
With new made memories and olf forgotten ones
And as the seasons will pass
We will fall and stand up through every season long