Of Poems and Maleness

Hello My Dear One,

It has been far too long since I have written, and I apologize with a sincere heart.  That said, my thoughts are not quite as cohesive as I might like at the moment, so I am choosing to share a poem that I wrote several years ago.  

I have edited it only slightly, and I hope that it conveys the inner joy that I experience when I do things that are more traditionally male.  

I must note that a woman cannot go and get sand for the driveway, in fact my wife recently did, but every time I've gone, I have never seen a female performing this specific task.  So on the one hand, I am happy for my maleness, yet conscious of the broader worldview of the inequalities that still exist between the sexes.  On the other hand, I suspect that my beautiful wife is just as happy to have me go out in the cold to get dirty, than for her to do so.

Here's the poem:

The Driveway

As I drove to the town D.O.T. lot

I muttered under my breath about the cold

Saw the redness of my fingertips

Bemoaned my fate

Secretly, I couldn’t wait to see the giant dirt pile

Mounded up in a back lot

King-of-the-hill memories from boyhood

Washing over me like waves

I arrived, still disgruntled, old

5 gallons of dirt would be heavy

And I had forgotten the shovel

Again and again and again

I tumbled out of my car

Bundled in winter clothes, pails in hand

I set my buckets down

Surveyed the mountain

And I saw the rings left in the dirt 

By the others who had come before me

Each of us, little boys, 

Collecting sand for our castles

I hope that this winter, for all it's icy chills, finds you warm in spirit and heart.

Be well.  Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  And remember to actually love yourself.

-Ari