treasures of cleaning my room

i reached a point of almost complete disgust with myself
and realized i had to bring a sense of cleanliness and order
to my cell

one of the benefits of doing things like this
is you find things you didn't know you had

i found three poems
each one printed on card quality paper
with a photo print above the poem
and a tonque depressor glued to the back
which gives the thing the quality of something
you might want to use to cool yourself down
in a hot room...or something to easily pass off
to someone else

i don't recall how these three poems came into my cell
and i see now that the one i have chosen to print here
is actually signed by the poet on the tongue depressor

David Bengtson

something tells me he is a local minnesota poet
as will be inferred from the title of this poem


Japanese Garden/ Little Sauk, Minnesota

in the garden one tree is weeping
while another's bent branch waits for God to sit
and the lantern rides a frozen wave

all winter we waited for these few days
when plum and apple blossom

tomorrow we will walk this path again
and stand here with outstretched hands
as petals fall silent as snow

i realize i am being a bit contrary here
as the season most apparent is and should be autumn
but i give this little statement by mr bengtson
as a witness to some hope
that one day after the cold trial
there will be petals to catch from the apple tree