(Community Matters) I’m inclined to repost a piece Steven wrote for our friend Robert Matney. It’s created a crosscountry bond between them and Sonya Cohen Cramer who published the piece in a special woodcut edition.
Viola (for Matney)
©2013 Steven Tomlinson
People ask, “How are you?” and I wonder:
What do you want to know? What can you handle?
What’s honest? What’s safe? What’s kind?
Ask Viola, and she says: YOU, HERE, NOW, LOVE, LICK, LICK, LOVE.
Of course, she oversimplifies. [She’s a dog.]
When I came home from the hospital, I thought I’d feel less helplessly dependent if I found something that depended on me. Isn’t that why people get dogs?
Viola says YES AND… YOU. HERE. NOW. LOVE. LICK. YOU. LOVE.
She knows no boundaries, no decorum, only joy effervescent, slathering sloppy kisses on my face, my sutures.
Community Matters 