Mother's Year on Poetry Yes

We didn't think a day was nearly enough, so we're running Mom's Day pieces all year. 

"Catherine Jean" – written by my brother Don – is about our mom who, at 28 with 4 children, lost the love of her life. It's a tribute to her and all loving moms who carry on. 

Photo: Mom.  Don, Cathy, Fred behind my wheelchair.

This is a cover of Jackson Browne's song Downhill From Everywhere for COVID Cathartic event at Inverness, CA.
The Band: Kristen McDonald, cello; Van Van Der Maaten, guitar; Ross Perry, mandolin;Jack Kramer, harmonica; Axel Nelson, 12 string; Gene Ptak, vocals

America, where is your beautiful?
Your wheat fields still wave amber as we pass by
Your mountains still majestic
The seas still wash our shores on moon time
Redwood forests are tall but must wonder
about our souls after all their years watching

Some creature—a demon perhaps
sucked the peopleness out of people
the color out of Goodness
while Kindness sat
in a corner trying to unpack its words
Truth became a ghost we once held tight
it disappeared in our arms on that day
hate dressed up as hot apple pie
it fed the multitudes angry breath and foul decay

A hate-thy-neighbor blaze bled daily into our ears and eyes

until numbness or verbal fists became our foods of choice

by Ed Hooper and Gene Ptak

We hang on November’s vine waiting for the liberator
who has always been us
Find your beautiful America
It still shines
Under spacious skies on
the shoulders
of your
mothers and fathers and neighbors
Their watchtower was made of sacred bricks
They knew Honor and Decency and Caring
are the sisters and brothers of Love
Wash the whiskey lies from your mind
Christ knows we’re all 12 shades of brown

But our beautiful will be buried and burned

If the white supremacists come to town