Last night, the eve before today’s doctor’s appointment when he will learn whether, and to what extent, the chemo treatment for pancreatic cancer has prolonged his life, Steve attended a concert in a wheelchair. Moments after sending his verse “In Their 40s”, he suggested I post this instead. Too late!
Mops waiting for guests to use at the Shoemaker residence.
INTRO TO LIMERICK: Driving to Steve and Nadja Shoemaker’s this morning, we texted Steve revising the estimated time of arrival. Steve responded with this limerick and photo from his iPhone:
We love to have guests who show up
When they told us that they would turn up.
But please don’t come early
Or we will be surly,
It’s then that we start to clean up!
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, January 2, 2014.
Steve’s prairie haven – home of the Urbana “Morning Chorus”
Springtime is the loudest.
Breeding has begun.
The travelers have returned:
finches, swallows, robins,
hummers, whippoorwills.
Our dead end rural road
has little traffic even later
in the day–none at 5 am in May.
No sound but bird song:
Coos, chirps, whistles,
call and response.
The choir has no conductor
that we see.
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 9, 2013
…with thanks to John David Mooney
Falling Leaf
It’s best to see at dawn or dusk.
Pines and firs and spruces guard
the tiny park. The walk of brick
(light and dark) leads to the sound
of falling water. Then the lights
(L-E-D) that shift and change
from orange to blue lift eyes and hearts,
joining high above a branch,
(no, two or three or four) that point
up and up and up. The sound behind
Spirit Tree
of running water pulls our sight
from the tree to leaf. We find
the silver kissing leaves that drip
drops into the pool: breathe…feel…
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Oct. 29, 2012
Views from the Edge 