Sijo with Barb Elder, April 2024
A grotesque menagerie
guards Notre Dame from vile villains.
Once almost decayed and lost,
Hugo’s novel renewed this church.
Now I gargoyle in the desert,
defended and protected.
The Organ
Who can play? Perplexing task,
bellows, wind chest, pipes pitched by length
old-fashioned, complicated;
with age we grasp, mastery reached.
Come to my organ recital:
Now, about my gall bladder.