LIFE SCROLL

To the memory of Alice Geneva
Nowell Rhoads, 1910-2006

She marked her life on a scroll
shouldered in a sheath of memory.

At times she’d lift it out,
roll back to younger days,

show us some portrait of past
remorse, a stinging word,

a study in native reserve,
a failure to succeed.

At night we’d see her add
another foot or two,

but not before she’d turn
to an earlier sketch, select

the self-muting colors,
the agonizing shapes,

the hopeful lines that draw
meaning from ruthless events

to echo in familiar forms—
the past sounding in the present

like ancient carillon bells
rung at daily Vespers,

their cracks and casting flaws
resounding.

THE OCCASIONAL FIRE

POEMS
Life Scroll
Spirit Wings
Death in the Family
Flight Chief
Legacy
Honeymoon Photo, October, 1939
Land of Rest
On Allison's Leaving
Dandelions
Plantain
The Owl and the Mouse
Telecom's Bequest
Starbucks, Tuesday, 3:36 p.m.
Action Still
Vital Meaning
Fools

HYMNS
God will not let us go
The rising sun blazed out of night
Light! Light! A shattering light
Worship the Lord
As a doe

ABOUT MARK RHOADS