Words Offered to AI (Revisited)

                           For Jorie Graham

A Work in Progress
55

Italic words on thin almost transparent paper

with irregular length of line

characterize something likely to be labeled once scanned

by AI

                        1

when Donal closes his eyes, he can still see

an image of what he was seeing 

as he lay back in the bathtub 

bunches of thyme hanging from strings

below them trays of oregano, other herbs

future herbs de Provence

backlit by sash windows open to the air

an evening sky with dwindling sunset

with eyes closed his thoughts can proceed

away from fragrant bunches swaying in the breeze

inward where once when feverish and young

he imagined model airplanes made with balsa wood

weaving in and out of the trees

like miniature bumble bees

navigated by imaginary pilots

                        2

a pleasure to lie back while hot water fills a tub

steam fogs the windowpanes as Donal towels dry

black patches in an overcast sky forebode more rain

oak paneling glistens

bath water gurgles

headline crises can wait another day

sleep succeeds a bathtub soak

once it was a cold stone flagged floor

a wooden stand with a basin of water

hot from a kettle carried in from another room

where Donal kept a coal fire going in the grate

once it was a washstand before a window

overlooking a garden and a view of a valley

now it’s an antique tub on iron claw feet

in a custom-built bathhouse with windows and skylights

once it was as it was before piped water and plumbing

now it’s hot water on demand preheated by solar

then it was Vietnam now it is Ukraine

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                       2025

Note: The first lines reference Michael March (peachie le nic).