by Cammy Thomas
The guy who rides his mower over our lawn
became pastor of a tiny church
when both the other pastors suddenly died.
He had to find a way into the bank account
to take care of church business.
Part of our lawn is a large, steep hill.
When we moved in, he said he’d been mowing it for 30 years.
I can’t watch—he goes back and forth across it,
reversing direction by backing up the hill
and swinging around, and as the machine
tips up a little I imagine him falling,
the machine rolling over him,
tumbling down the hill into the road.
But without his mowing, trees
would start to grow and box us in.
Should I try to stop him
even though he believes he’s safe?
A modest man, he mows with confidence that his god
will let him do his work without restraint,
and help him find the password at the bank.
Cammy Thomas’s most recent book is Odysseus’ Daughter (Parkman Press, 2023), poems in response to the Odyssey. She has three full-length poetry collections published by Four Way Books. Cathedral of Wish received the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. Tremors received 2022 Poetry Honors from the Mass Book Awards. A fellowship from the Ragdale Foundation helped her complete Inscriptions. Her poem, “Far Past War,” was set to music by her sister, composer Augusta Read Thomas, and premiered with the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington DC in 2022. She teaches literature to adults and lives near Boston.