Baby

Baby   A baby rabbit flushed from the liriope, still, stares, slips back in   The baby rabbit was the Buddha whom I flushed from liriope   All encompassing baby Buddha rabbit gaze summoned me awake   This is everything and nothing, baby rabbit as still as a stone...

Summer 2010

Sweet Cloud on deep green, white dog is diabetic, as sweet as ever Mail I wait for the mail with a child’s hope – I want word from all I have lost Robin Chicks I approach the nest where robin chicks wait for food – robins dive bomb me So Hot So hot, so muggy – but why can’t I even think? what ‘s happened to me? Inner Jungle In inner jungle I find words beautiful as birds of paradise Door Each garden holds, hides a door to Eden, but how to find it, pass through? Tall Tall slender grasses sway in summer breeze and shed mists of silver seeds Basil First week of summer, hot and humid, basil thriving as if this were home Miracle Ordinary I try to record what I call the miracle of ordinary Between Patients Alone with Montaigne I wait for the next patient to bring news of now 100 Degrees (Fahrenheit) In the heat of day breezes still whisper softly in deep forest shade New Pieces Being with myself is a perpetual puzzle – new pieces each day Almost Think The heat of day breaks in late afternoon and I can almost think now Small Words I mumble small words and then can not decipher what I may have meant Soft Fingers Evening breeze enchants with soft fingers on my cheek as moon’s a gold hint Neither Here Nor There I went wandering I was no longer here and then no longer there Pale Purple In the midst of mint, morning glories are blooming, white and pale purple Independence? Queen Ann’s Lace trembles...

White Mist

Spring brings such sorrowsover what can’t be renewed –what’s dissolved in mist White mists, so puzzling, so beautiful – they hold allI have lost, squandered White mists, delicateas profiles of those I’ve loved,like them, never still White mists take the shapesof white peony blossomsand drop white petals White mists – no mercy,don’t care who I see, who Ispread my arms to hug White mists wet the grassas spring sun rises to burnaway...

Spring 2006

Wild White Few degrees warmer-late March morning carpetedwith wild white flowers Exacted Each word exactedfrom heart’s beat approximateswhat can’t be spoken Greta The black cat is deadwhose swift and lithe lovelinessleapt twenty quick years Kingfishers Up the river, down,kingfishers, needles piercingthis cool April dawn Souvenirs White dog is sleeping,white snout propped on mud black paws,souvenirs of stream A Single Breath Every word I writeshorthand for a single breathshorthand that falls short Spring Frog Song Bright chirps of small birdsoverlaid on spring frog songboiling in the bog Dying Fox In our tiny wooda dying fox lies quietin deep green ivy Horizontal Snow Horizontal snowin early April beforecherry blossoms come Whimsy Whinnies When whimsy whinnieslike a horse, I kick my heels,run under the moon When I can’t rememberwhen, so full of emptiness,I’ve been so content Green Eden White dog is sleepingon her back in green Edenof a spring evening Young Again Pink cherry blossoms –the old tree is young againunder a gray sky White Fungus How white the funguson the trunk of fallen oak –white as dogwood’s blooms Unopened Unopened lilacsare stains of a purple bloodagainst green branches Exact Pink Blossoms’ exact pinkI’d forgotten – old cherrytakes me by surprise Wonder Of Sex The wonder of sexis in the morning’s white mist –and the worry, too Rasp Sorrow rasps in melike a cat’s tongue on my hand –peculiar pleasure Step To Wisdom Each step to wisdomis a new embarrassment –what awkward freedom Yellow Surprise A yellow surprisefluttering up from ivy –year’s first swallowtail After Two Decades After two decadessky blue blue jays all about –mockingbirds vanquished In Bamboo Blue jays in...

Fall 2008

Back I’m back from the pastwhere I kept calling my nameand no one answered Bahia, September 2008 Red laterite hillsand blue ocean and green palms –finding is losing Low Four hundred miles gonea cyclone rules our atmosphere –I’m low in the low Futile All things change – I’m changedby my futile resistanceto each tiny change High Breezy High breezy blue skyafter the hurricane’s left,moist depression gone Tumbling Leaf Single tumbling leafcounterfeits a butterflyorange wings unfolding Virginia Creeper Virginia creeperin autumn – caught red handedclimbing the old oak Stories Fall – the leaf trembles –does that white swan know anystories of dying? Death’s Forest Beautiful fall day,still green leaves against blue sky –I walk death’s forest Croak High blue aching sky,croak of the great blue heron,leaf riding the wind What The darkness of light,illusion that what I seeshows me what I am Thinnest Now’s the thinnest sliceof being, and all that isor that ever was Grackles Migrating gracklesfill the crowns of the oakswith black snow flurries Passing In early autumnI intuit my winterin each passing ache Scaled Scaled with shelf fungusfallen cherry stretches outin autumn sunshine In The Stream The white dog’s happyin the stream, braces herselfagainst the current Remembrance The perch cardinaljust left is still quivering –such is remembrance Gray Question Mark Gray question mark catfast asleep on the pink bench –questions never sleep Lift-Off 2 pileatedwoodpeckers down on the ground,then a loud lift-off Blue Sky How blue is this sky,color of a robin’s egg,all empty of clouds Crisp The cool of the nightsis luxury of autumn –how crisp my mind is Mind Games When I wish it full,my...

Fall 2004

Second Firmament When I meet darknessinside me, I look for stars,second firmament Wild Turkeys Wild turkeys rising,tail fans spread, the same coloras the leaves falling October Clover October clover,as pale purple as ever,lonely in the grass Moore Henry Moore lifted the shapes of rock from nature,added attachment New Split Oak Scent of new split oak,green rhapsody of summerslong past, still present Autumn Mists Autumn mists, white sheetswith nothing written on them,pierced by bright bird calls Saffron Threads On my hands and kneesI place thin orange saffron threadson a dry oak leaf Chalk Clouds Chalk clouds on blue skychanging characters wind-workedno way to read them Last Traces Smooth on my fingers,these ashes, the last tracesof a great white oak Flowers My parents, planted nowwhere they’ll never bloom, are stillflowers in my mind Red Streamer Cardinal in flight,red streamer unfurled overtawny fall meadow Can’t Get Used I can’t get used, Dad,to your death, not a problemthat you struggle with Meerschaum Two years dead and stillyou’re puffing white smoke clouds fromMeerschaum in my mind Flotilla Flotilla of leavesfloating down the stream – what is this life that leads me? Golden Autumn twilight weavesgolden forest tapestryunder snow claw moon Incandescent Weeping cherry’s turnedincandescent hues of gold,all tears forgotten Sudden Sudden sun’s splendor,tenderness of mid-autumn,lone gold leaf floats down Seasoning Red leaves amid brownfall has its own seasoningwaiting for first frost 16th Anniversary Sixteen years ago –an instant – I’m someone else –a red tumbling leaf Snout Is Still White dog’s snout is still,ears twitch, interrogatingfall wind for the news Bare Snag That bare snag was oncemore complicated, alsofar less beautiful Old Thoughts I’m...