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| At the Daus 50th Anniversary |
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| Grandma and Grandpa Daus |
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| Oma and Opa Kahn |
To Andy - Welcome Home
There is love in this household,
Fluttering startled from under
The eaves where the spring
Nests sit.
It crouches under the table
Brooding like a pouting child.
It splashes back and forth
In dishwasher arguments
And blazes in calendula
Oranges and yellows
Through damp mists.
This love is here in the leave-takings
And the love-welcomings
Where you expect it to
Make an appearance,
But it is also here
Poking fun at the irritations
Over broken garbage bags
And puncturing anger's
Whit-hot balloons.
This love sleeps peacefully
Through slashing rainstorms
And waves a smiling red flag
To the mailman
At haphazard intervals.
It doesn't get wide media coverage,
But it curls up comfortably in small poems.
There is love in this household.
March 7, 1979
Generation Grasp:
A favorite Kodachrome of my mother Daphne Daus's aging hand grasped by Aaron, her first great-grandson, was fading to indistinct pastels. Why not create the image in bronze? Intimidated by having to sculpt hands, I phoned Cynthia Thomas, a local artist whose work I admired. "Could you give me a lesson on making hands?" I asked. She worked with me for several sessions. I practiced on small wax hands which are in several sculptures I did at the time. Then I worked on bigger hands. They were poured at the foundry she and John Dach run in Philo. It is, I think, touching that my own hand is now the aging hand of my mother.
