One 1986 in a Lifetime--ByTricia Knoll--United States

One 1986 in a Lifetime

The point of the trip to New Zealand

was Halley’s comet, that crisscross blaze

your great-grandfather saw in 1910,

his one story you inherited of light in the sky

from a time the tango was taking off.

You liked feeding chocolate eggs to deer at Easter

on the venison farm. You liked riding in the white van

and woke up gently to look over Mt. Cook at 4 am.

You were four. I was thirty-nine.

This was my only chance

to see this comet swipe cross midnight stars

and a still-solid glacier.

You, so young,

another chance in 2061 in a universe

I will never know.

Tricia Knoll is an Oregon poet whose aging hands continue to do work that fascinates her - writing haiku and poetry, digging holes for daffodils, brushing a dog, and peeling the skin off cooked beets. Her poetry collections include full-length book Ocean’s Laughter (Aldrich Press, 2016) and a chapbook Urban Wild (Finishing Line Press, 2014).  Website: triciaknoll.com