Jane’s Annual Poems, 1973-2021

1976

HOOTENANNY MANGER, 1976

The 2 month baby
on a comforter
on the living room floor
squalls, angry
isolated from touch
on clouds of puffed nylon.
 
Voices float above him.
His father, attending,
picks up his guitar
sits crosslegged down there,
picks a lick
croons a tune.
 
It is the leaning forward,
singing softly I want to
capture, and how the baby’s
eyes met his father’s eyes,
and how the baby stopped
crying, even smiled,
and sang along.
 
© Jane Piirto. All Rights Reserved.