Poem for Monday

The Hand
By Mary Ruefle

The teacher asks a question.
You know the answer, you suspect
you are the only one in the classroom
who knows the answer, because the person
in question is yourself, and on that
you are the greatest living authority,
but you don't raise your hand.
You raise the top of your desk
and take out an apple.
You look out the window.
You don't raise your hand and there is
some essential beauty in your fingers,
which aren't even drumming, but lie
flat and peaceful.
The teacher repeats the question.
Outside the window, on an overhanging branch,
a robin is ruffling its feathers
and spring is in the air.

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I spent Mother's Day with my parents and in-laws, with my husband doing all the cooking and nearly all the cleaning, so it was a very nice day even though the weather was miserable! Paul made monkey bread and eggs benedict casserole and waffles for brunch, then w*e went to Brookside Gardens for the annual Wings of Fancy butterfly show, but the wait to get in was so long that we ended up just walking through the conservatory looking at the flowers and plants. Then we came home, played Mexican Train Dominoes and had dinner -- coq au vin, noodles, French bread, green beans, salad and derby pie. So I ate very well. *g* My mother got me Crocs (which I had told her I wanted); my immediate family had already given me my gift, a Nikon Speedlight, which I used to take family photos. Here is a bit of Brookside:

















We spent twenty minutes carrying defunct computer equipment from our basement out to my in-laws' truck in the pouring rain; there's a group of people in my father-in-law's church who takes old equipment and fixes it for kids who can't afford computers, and we had stuff down there dating back to a Mac Color Classic. So I got very wet and spent the rest of the evening sitting around in sweats watching Evan Almighty on HBO, because that is a totally entertaining movie with lots of animals that shows corrupt politicians the error of their ways, and really, how often do movies about God do that without turning all repulsive like The Ten Commandments. That would be a much better movie if the plagues were things like elephants blocking the overseers from tormenting the slaves and Pharaoh distracted by penguins swimming in the Nile.