Reuniting With The Family Poem by RIC BASTASA

i have seen
spots all over the
clothes that we are
wearing
they look like some stains
from an oil pan
or patches of soil
or paints from
the unfinished wall

if art's mission is to make
all these messes
something beautiful to see
or fine to touch
or sweet to the tastebuds
for all of us,
then i will still embrace it

everything seems ugly at first
and detestable
because we have used so many words
or too many hands to spoil
the intended effect of
a painting or a feeling

i will not utter any word
or exhibit any gesture
i will just sit here and contemplate
about the stars and
the moon

you may not believe it
but it worked.
sisters are no longer talking
about some differences
and i love the way they talked
about trivial matters

like how the broom was used
in the wrong way by
a foreigner
new in the place wanting to
be part of the picture

or how the food was erroneously
put in the wrong car
and was not recovered

we were talking about red buttons
and blue neckties
and not about broken eyeglasses
or trapped birds in a cage
or overstretched dragonflies in the
ricefield

oh we talk about silly matters
and i think it is the beginning of
a family reunited
after so much bitterness and
bickering about nothing at all.