Spring 2008
Winked
Morning wilderness
borders on the land of dreams –
a star winked at me
Fact/Fiction
A matter of fact
is a matter of fiction –
so spring is my dream
Afloat
Clock chimes the hour –
I don’t count, knowing only
that now stays afloat
Bothered Beaver
The bothered beaver
strikes the lake’s bass drum and dives
to white dog’s surprise
Pink Haze
Weeping cherry’s bloom
makes a pink haze on blue sky –
this grief’s delicate
Exquisite
The exquisite scent
of a blossom I don’t know –
would a name spoil it?
Lone Goose
Lone goose, white bellied,
under white clouds, streaking west,
squawking all the way
5 Hawks
5 hawks circling light
at Cross Campus and Osler –
what prey do they see?
Green Eyes
One green eye in sun
and one green eye in shadow –
question mark cat sleeps
Flashed
A blue jay flashed through
the weeping cherry’s pink veil –
that was yesterday SF, April, 2008
More Like
Now I look more like
my father than like myself –
who was he am I?
Lovely Ugly
Lovely ugly croak
of a heron taking flight –
is mine different?
SF, 9 April, 2008
Cranes wait by the bay –
the Olympic torch is lost –
Everest stands still
A Streetcar
A streetcar renamed
lack of desire, how aging
brings want of wanting
Yellow Rimmed Eye
Small black bird, yellow
rimmed eye, tends a puddle where
cherry blossoms float
Mix
Fatigue and sorrow
mix with sixty year olds’ joys –
I’m past purity
Heat Wave, Point Reyes, April 12, 2008
Resplendent in warmth,
blue ocean, barely rolling –
ease, immensity
Scattered
Wild iris scattered
throughout seaside cow pastures –
specks of majesty
Stain
Bird against blue, hawk
keeps its shadow on a string,
stains green grass with ink
Tomales Bay
Now the setting sun
casts the bay as silver plate –
breeze rustles the trees
Hills
Hills climb to the sky,
drop to their knees by the sea,
hold millenia
Lowing
Black cattle lowing
on the hill confide in breeze
blowing from the sea
Quail
Four dusky quail walk
a dusty cow path – red winged
blackbirds sing in reeds
Crows
What crows have to say,
they speak in the squawkative,
the case that’s their own
No Rush
California
poppies, little cups of gold
in no rush at all
Coming Death
Close friend’s coming death
tells me the wind holds mine, too –
even the moonlight
My Death’s Horse
I am my death’s horse –
it rides me over the hills
to canter the beach
Pearls
I’m trying to find
pearls in nightmare – what rubs there
makes all things precious
Foil
I hadn’t noticed
eucalyptus leaves glisten
in seaside sun, breeze
Hush
Hush of afternoon –
I’m coming back to myself,
whom I barely know
Dragonfly
I fell asleep in
the tent of infinite dreams –
I’m a dragonfly
Free Turkey
Blue of gobbler’s face,
brown splendor of his ruffed tail –
turkey struts his stuff
Spring Hail, Seattle
Spring hail beats leaf drums –
sunshine yellow skunk cabbage
glows up from the ground
4:20 AM
I wake from my dream
to the first halting birdsong –
miracle’s music
Warbler
Warbler singing high
in a tree – dinosaur, how
did it come to this?
Wind Combs
Wind combs wildflowers
on the hill’s spine by the sea –
if my hair could bloom… Point Reyes
Tamales Point
This spring spectacle –
millions of bright flower eyes –
every year, just now Point Reyes
Bolinas Lagoon
Black seals on a bar
flop about, enjoying spring
just the way I do
Twin Towers
Twin yellow pockmarked
morel towers – how eagerly
my eyes pick them out
May 11, 2008
When the sun comes out
I’m another me, someone
woken by the light
Tree Peony
The tree peony
sheds white petals like a tent
going to pieces
Dream – RAR, March 10, 2008
I swam to the side
of a dying friend, dripping
as we were at birth
Not Prepared
I was not prepared
for anything that transpired –
this, my life’s glory
On Black Lake
White swans on black lake,
white dogwoods blooming on shore,
white dog by my side
Never Been
Darkest miracle
is death, the return to where
we have never been
Gold Drop
I am very small
and getting smaller with each
gold drop of a day
After Hail
Sunshine after hail,
clouds true to no fixed purpose,
unsettled as mind
Buck A,K.
Did the buck that slammed
into your car mark you then
for an early death?
Whir
Cardinal’s wings’ whir
as scarlet bursts from a clump
of gold swamp iris
Close and Far
I am an old man
who once was young, memory
close and far as dream
Stir
The stir of the breeze
in the May green of the trees
as light keeps changing
Old Apple
Blue jay in the breeze
lights in the old apple tree,
stays a single beat
Wine Of Joy
In the wine of joy,
is the flavor of sorrow
and yet we drink it
Lip Of June
On the lip of June
this forest is enchanted –
a faun sleeps in grass
You
You, white, naked, new –
here are the snows of this year
which will melt in time
Pest
I’m trying to know
much less than I did before –
ambition’s a pest
Wonder Of Now
The wonder of now
is that it is always here
so I’m not alone
Dog Daze
The hammer of heat
comes crashing down before noon –
dog inhabits daze
Wordwork
I’m a wordworker
or is it that words work me,
take me for their wood?
Death Fruits
Death’s everywhere
and then fruits like a fungus
from the underground
Basil
In the heat, basil
plants pop up, tiny green spades –
I taste what they’ll be
Bones
Up the wild cherry
has the wisteria climbed,
lacking its own bones
Savors
White dog savors taste
of the very first black cap –
next come mulberries
Undertaking
Strange undertaking –
we sail out to meet our deaths
under bright blue sky
Black Cohosh
Phosphorescent white,
witches’ candles now ignite
rise up from the green
Tangles
My thoughts walk with me
impersonate the tangles
of the climbing vines
June 11, 1977
That grief can sweeten
over vast stretches of time
is bitter wonder
Between Sets
Silence in the swamp
as the frogs rest between sets –
then a sudden twang
Goldfinches
Two small spots of gold
sit up in a tree, feasting
on ripe mulberries
Swallowtail
Yellow sunlight flaps
its wings – swallowtail crosses
creek from which deer drink
Late June Afternoon
White dog’s fast asleep –
rumble of distant thunder
competes with her snore
Sour Cherries For Pie
Red as winter coals,
but smooth and safe to the touch,
picked from their green orbs
Spring 2007
Old Ohio Barn
Old barn – blue sky slats
mixed in among the gray. as
sky mixes with mine
Yola, April 5, 2007
Naked as a child
I go to April graveyard –
snow falls in Cleveland
Over It
I’m over it &
what I’m over is myself,
tiny as zerO
Lake Erie
Lake Erie in spring
a slate gray on which I wrote
my first history
In Puzzlement
Places of my youth
stand in puzzlement, wonder
just who I might be
Few Simple
A few simple things,
but what are they: can I count
them on my fingers?
My Puzzlement
When I meet myself
my puzzlement increases
but is sweetened, too
Piece Of Dead Fox
In her mouth white dog
holds a large piece of dead fox,
smiling as she does
Black Type
The coots are black type
scattered on the windy lake,
bobbing with the waves
Just Before
The beaver left off
just before the tree toppled –
what distracted her?
Joy’s Mist
The press of blind days
that don’t know where they’re going,
soft kiss of joy’s mist
Slippery Now
I’ve no occasion
except for slippery now
that I just can’t grab
Groaning
White dog is groaning
with desire, hope, pleasure
all mixed together
Snow
There’s snow on my cheek,
but I can not ski down it,
since I’m the mountain
Cherry Dance
Weeping cherry’s dance
in the breeze is more complex
than any cloth skirt’s
Cleveland, April 2007
I miss my parents
in how I forget myself
and see only cloud
Company Of Stones
I’m bereaved when I
leave the cemetery and
company of stones
Flowers, Too
Words are flowers, too
I can arrange them only
as they bloom in me
Wafers
Wafers of blue sky
sandwiched in between cloud sheep
that have no shepherd
Strange Spring
Plum petals and snow
mix in gusts of April wind –
this is a strange spring
Lost In A Cold Spring
Lost in a cold spring,
the fruit trees can’t help blooming,
blush on a gray sky
Dripping
Dripping vanilla
down from the sky, the locusts
once more in sweet bloom
Free
Golden coins scattered
through lush May green by the creek –
yellow swamp iris
Slant Bough
Dying oak’s slant bough
crosses where the raccoons live
on its way to sky
Lost Ash
Fallen mountain ash
in autumn snow, its berries
red as drops of blood
Canes In Bloom
Can these white flowers
bear the succulent rapture
of red raspberries?
GW’s Death, May 22, 2007
White lotus petals
floating down echo snow in
the cemetery
Swampo
Bull frogs discussing
mysterious policies –
swampo profundo
Rabbit Paradise
Clover lifts its head,
white as snow, so much sweeter,
rabbit paradise
June 7, 2007
Now dryad’s saddles
are black and shriveled, worn out
riding moonlit nights
Park Heights Avenue
Field of winter wheat,
sable, at Park Heights, where crows
and black hats commune
Swift As Sunlight
Through tight loops of vine
a pair of goldfinches dart
as swift as sunlight
Past Harvard
Vanity is truth –
this goes past Harvard’s motto
to self-disclosure
Pink
Pink the new peak leaves
of these young oaks reaching to
touch my ancient chin
Ghost Tongue
Ghosts in river mist
discuss what was, what will be,
till sun steals their tongue
Winter 2007-8
Winter 2007
First dawn of winter –
pale blue sky with rose margin –
a few mourning doves
Lost
Shadows in sunshine
all of those whom I have lost
shadows in sunshine
Blue Jay
Blue jay in the fog
as if the sky had escaped
from captivity
In Fog
Every water bird
in fog seems a part of dream
and the white dog, too
Coots
White dog disperses
coots – thunderous the applause
of rising lobed toes
Mapping
I’ve wandered so much
I’ve lost hope of mapping where
I’ve been, where I am
Dream Sea
I’m sleepy and want
to drift down into dream sea
to become a fish
Like Thirst
Sun slakes appetite
like thirst after grey days
and changes my mind
Where?
Do I hold my grief
or does my grief carry me?
Where are we going?
Squawking
Hidden in the mist
myriad geese are squawking –
then the beat of wings
Great Blue
Great blue heron makes
the ugliest squawk as he
launches into fog
Fifteen
I’m trying to guess
what’s the meaning of all this –
I’m fifteen again
Coiled
Red buds on green canes
of wild roses in winter –
spring is coiled to spring
Look Out
What I see when I
look out my windows depends
on what is inside
Think Less
I want to think less
but shadows are suggestive
even in half light
Oak Smoke
The smell of oak smoke
under a gray wintry sky –
I am burning, too
My Forest
Contradictions are
the pillars, beams of my house,
wood of my forest
Bowl Games
New Year’s Day football
at once leashes, unleashes
the savage in me
Finishing
Finishing a year,
starting anew – just the work
done by an instant
Arrowheads
Shot from morning’s bow,
arrowheads of geese over
the crest of the hill
A Black Stick
White dog wades river,
finds a black stick to chew on,
declares happiness
Murmuring
Murmuring burning
our old oak in the fireplace
gives tongues to lost years
Watching
I learned by watching
I could not say what I saw
but it became me
Witless
What’s witless wanders,
what has wits wonders – and these
two come together
Not Imitation
Not imitation,
but another dimension,
like silence fiction
Cold Far
The moon never speaks –
cold far mirror sees nothing –
I can’t stop dreaming
Sieck
The wholesale florist
is next door to the prison –
scents escape with ease
Lush
As evening comes down
I’m living in a lush hush –
a star shoots at me
Another Season
Another season’s
sun shines today, as if the spring
simply couldn’t wait
Deer
A line of white tails
quivering with each quick bound
across the black stream
Pebbles
Pebbles in the stream
become smoothed without knowing
anything at all
On The Wire
Squirrel on the wire
pauses to sniff snowy air,
then goes on crossing
Faster
My old friend’s dying
as I am too, only he’s
quicker than I am
Just This Once
Man is the flower
who blooms thinking, “Just this once
and never again”
Old Eyes
Old eyes, new wonder –
ducks dozing on the harbor
in January
Sex
Sex invented us,
not the other way around –
but we make it new
Skirts Of Ice
Rocks in skirts of ice
sit like Buddha in the lake
under winter sun
Artifact
Art is artifact,
unless it is fact, just as
rock is rock, sky, sky
Temples
Rotting in the ground,
my parents are preserved now
between my temples
My Parents
I mourn my parents
in each breath that fans the fire
of my extinction
Gray Rainy
Like gray rainy days
fatigue steals something away –
the inner sunlight
Mind’s Eye
Midwinter mind’s eye
sees the weeping cherry tree
in full pink blossom
Bursts Of Breath
The world in my mind
will die with me, save it live
in these bursts of breath
Waking
When the wake is gone,
then the vessel disappears –
ocean’s all that’s left
Dark Coots
Thousands of dark coots
still as print on the blue page
of this winter lake
Featureless
A featureless day
a gray sky in a gray mood –
purr, question mark cat
Sudden
Just before leap day
sudden scent of spring in the air –
I’m trying to bud
Each New day
Older each new day
my puzzlement is deeper,
light as a feather
Sly
Nothing to relate
save for the sly happenstance
of formless moments
Foggy Days
Understanding was
the great passion of my youth –
now I’m one with fog
Dead Wood
The wind goes howling
through the almost waking oaks
so dead wood spears fly
Alonzo King
I watch the dancers
and want to live twenty times,
no, ninety more times
Catapult
Warm day catapults
the first plum trees into bloom –
life and death, again
One More
It keeps happening –
I’m becoming someone else,
one more impostor
Love
I’m pursuing you
through all your hills and valleys
and I am tiny
Tree Frogs
Tree frogs are piping
before St. Patrick’s own day,
quite drunk on spring green
This Side
This side of sixty
early spring’s more delicate,
red buds, ravishing
Coming, Going
Each day’s one less day,
each new day is one more day –
I’m coming, going
Sheen Of Pearl
I can own nothing
and nothing can possess me –
sky the sheen of pearl
Winter 2005-6
Black River
Cardinal over
the black river makes a shock
something like waking
Right Hip
I slip on the ice,
land on my right hip and see
the world made all new
Print Roosts
Blackbirds in bare oak
shadows of blackbirds on snow –
print roosts then flies
Recesses
In such recesses
of me as I but half know
I invent a life
Dark River
Across dark river
sycamores reach bright white arms,
join against sky’s blue
One White Whisker
Just one white whisker
caught in sun says sleeping cat
is not a gray rock
Sloppy V
Geese in sloppy V –
the settled ease of rich fields
has wrecked discipline
Clocks Buried
Sixtieth birthday –
clocks buried in my cells know
nothing comes easy
Peas
Today’s dawning is
unlike yesterday’s, unlike
as peas in a pod
What I’ll Never
I swim in detail,
what is unaccountable,
what I’ll never say
Fallow
Garden lies fallow,
but underneath is ferment
just what works in me
Heavy Heart
Dad, I watched you pry
boulders from the earth and knew
your heart was heavy
Mute Transmutes
Now clouds cloak the sky
as a mute transmutes horn’s sound,
finds a new beauty
Light’s Insignia
I don’t mean to tell
the whole story, just to show
light’s insignia
Finches
Dozens of finches
in tangled winter bare vine –
all still an instant
Piece Of Cloud
Dog’s a piece of cloud
come down to wander the woods
sniffing for squirrels
Not White
I’d begin again
if I could find alphabet
whose hair was not white
Cherish
I cherish the crows
who lived through West Nile virus –
surviving’s glad, sad
My Creation
My creation is
a dog howling at the moon
which is a deaf pearl
Almost Twenty
Black cat I wait on
demands water fresh and cold –
she’s almost twenty
Fierce Photon Flood
Trees hold their arms up,
children as we are of sky,
the fierce photon flood
Capsules
Contraptions of breath,
these words try to seal my time
into small capsules
Smile
The sun is a smile
in a pale blue winter sky –
its warmth is a kiss
Last Year’s Compost
The garden is black
where I spread last year’s compost –
once and future food
All New
I keep wandering
both in the past and present –
it’s all new to me
Scales
What’s concentrated
can be small and then explode
beyond all scales
Gray Cat Jumps
Gray cat jumps white dog
this rainy winter evening
and heads out the door
Hard As A Pebble
Feeling can be round
and small, hard as a pebble,
ten thousand years smooth
Right There
Every single day,
I start from the beginning
and end up right there
Soft Sunlit
Soft sunlit morning
and the birds that are singing
brighten it further
Rich Beyond
Circle I survey
is small, perhaps just a dot –
still rich beyond me
Faces
Faces of the dead
are so alive inside me,
full of expression
Do I Keep
Do I keep the dead
or do they keep me, each one
an inspiration?
Traveling Still
All places I’ve been
fit easily in my head –
I’m traveling still
Least Exact
What’s least exact, though
most exacting, is how love
enters a heart, leaves
Winter Sky’s Cotton
Winter sky’s cotton,
as far as the eye can see –
bare oaks are pitchforks
Listening For
I’m listening for
what barely announces
it’s coming to be
The Huge Now
What I remember
flowers in the huge now, casts
the spell of its scent
Old Elms
Under those old elms,
I read books – they held sky,
wouldn’t let it fall
Lipless, Not Lifeless
Lipless, not lifeless,
those elms didn’t criticize
but let me read me
Ancient Elms
I couldn’t suspect
ancient elms rooted in me
to outlive themselves
Gray Drizzle – 12-31-2005
After gray drizzle
comes golden sunshine, last day,
unexpected joy
How Loud
I’m surprised how loud
a downy woodpecker is
drumming under clouds
Red Gold
These winter meadows
are red gold with last year’s grass
bent low to the ground
Reddest Berry
The reddest berry
on thorned cane is cardinal
that flies up, away
Drowsy Gold
A warm winter day
the sun is a drowsy gold
willows start to green
Silos
The skunk cabbage tips
come up out of their silos,
point into blue sky
Autumn
In autumn I lose
everyone – leaves falling
from the tree I am
Tawny Winter
Tawny winter fields
under silver rising sun –
white dog and no snow
Patches
White dog patches holes
in my heart even before
I can feel their hurt
Silver Snakeskin
The river at dawn
is silver snakeskin, moving
and still all at once
Bursting
Skunk cabbage bursting-
a green rhinoceros horn-
from winter puddle
Like A Blanket
Silence is on me
the way a blanket of snow
lies on winter woods
Aconite
Winter aconite,
arrowheads of fierce sunshine
piercing the doomed snow
Greta’s Gone
Now that Greta’s gone,
the white dog and the gray cat
lie together, still
In The Ground
Greta’s in the ground,
yet she leaps swift in my head,
meows, as black as coal
Winter 2006-7
First Day Of Winter
First day of winter
whiff of skunk under cream cloud
river dark and slow
Sweet Goal
I dreamt that I scored
a sweet goal in the World Cup
and then I woke up
Freedom’s Scent
My dreams remind me
that I don’t know who I am –
they bear freedom’s scent
Loose Mesh
The loose mesh of mind
catches so much, lets so much
slip through without trace
Solstice Tree
A parrot’s flying
parallel to the ceiling
clinging to the fir
Changing Shape
Aftermath of love
when the dead are mists in mind
changing shape, color
Charcoal
The oaks are charcoal
on cloud as a gray squirrel
dives into ivy
At Haulover Bay, St. John
How could I have guessed
squid could be so seductive?
love’s not deductive
Meerkats
A tiny litter
of meerkats in my office
on a shelf of dreams
Now
I am older now
than I’ve ever been, younger
than I’ll ever be
School On Magnolia
This jade is the last
living remnant of the school
where I taught myself
Wild Rose Tangle
In wild rose tangle
twittering small bird chorus
sings praise of sunlight
Bed
I’ve now put to bed
those who once put me to bed –
their last sheets are earth
Ice Ferns
Now sun starts to thaw
ice ferns from the dark puddles
in this muddy trail
Quaint As Clothing
I’m always naked
in my mind, so ideas
seem quaint as clothing
Rose
Sun in the tangle
of leafless winter trees makes
a delicate rose
Flicker’s Head
Top of flicker’s head
all the way up an oak, red
hammer on blue sky
Last Day
Last day of the year
my stomach aches for the past,
for the future, too.
How Wishes Travel
How wishes travel
down the generations, work
mischief and music
Black Noose
A black noose of coots
surrounds three snow white still swans
winter visitors
First Day – 2007
First day of this year
and I’m the same old me who
keeps slipping away
Mob Of Robins
A mob of robins
on the glistening green grass –
did they never leave?
Pink And Eager
Just whose tongue is this
in my mouth, pink and eager
even when I’m not?
Much Too Much
No declarations
of hope or bright ambition –
I’ve felt much too much
Fallen Jerusalem, BVI
Rounded rock and blue
sea and sky, Jerusalem
Fallen is just this
Tracks
I’m leaving behind
tracks to show I didn’t know
where I was going
Final Shore
I’ve started dreaming
about my parents – they have reached
the far final shore
Not Me
The writer’s not me –
if he starts to think he is,
then he’s lost himself
Fog Pillars
Pillars of fog fill
winter morning woods as I
hike toward the sun
January
This warmest winter
coins January of gold
routs buds from their sleep
Changing Sky
Twenty winters I’ve
stared on these same bare gray oaks
against changing sky
Sunday Morning
Sunday morning, tea
and late oranges, sound of Bach
across seas of time
Deeper Mind
What my senses say
is question and answer both
for my deeper mind
Looking Away
Wisdom of looking
away from what I am, from
changing how of now
Undertake
What I undertake
each day is but prelude to
last undertaking
Spring In Winter, January, 2007
The purple crocus
have now joined the wild parade
of spring in winter
No Confusion
White dog and gray cat
basking in warm winter air
show no confusion
Rain On Slate
The white dog asleep,
rain on the slate roof, gray cat
hiding under porch
Far From Home
In winter sunlight,
the pink orchid’s opening
so far from its home
Far Away
Songs from far away
and long ago, Bahia,
where beauty found me
Blue The Sky
How blue the sky is,
how many times I’ve said this,
how blue this sky is
Color Of Milk
At last it’s turned cold
and the puddles are frozen –
ice color of milk
Sunlight And Shadow
Sunlight and shadow
chase each other through the day
till blood tips the west
Crowds
My mind is a crowd
each one with a crowd inside,
each with a story
One Voice
I’m a crowd, can’t speak
with one voice, but must wander
one voice to the next
Greenest Habit
The greenest habit,
is the greenest habitat,
how mind sings itself
To Gaze At The Moon
I’m turning away
from what I might come to know
to gaze at the moon
Yes
Here is where I am
and here, too, is what I am –
grizzled old fool – yes
Slowing
My brain is slowing
and I ask “Better or worse?”
freedom’s not knowing
Wave After Wave
As seacoasts withstand
wave after wave, so we bear
our deep hopes’ dashing
Lone Point
That one cardinal
is the lone point of color
in winter landscape
Ten Years Past
Ten years past I met
a bald eagle on this branch –
for me he ‘s still here
Snow Drops
Snow drops are blooming
in this strange January
that can’t make one flake
Black Snail
Here’s a small black snail
with convoluted chambers,
its own life of sense
So Quiet
If I could open
the door into white dog’s dream
I’d keep so quiet
Newspaper
Gray cat is asleep
on the newspaper – I can’t
bear to disturb her
No Snow
White tails of brown does,
white of swans, white dog trotting
blue lake’s winter rim
Intricacies
Late afternoon light
intricacies of meeting
half a moon in blue
Black
High in leafless oak
black vase shape of crow, watching
featureless blue sky
Cuneiform
In a sand island
in the stream, cuneiform
imprint of deer hooves
Throwing Books Away
Throwing books away
after a lifetime’s reading –
no print in my heart
Yellow Bloom
Under this gray sky
witch hazel’s in yellow bloom
by the old white oak
New Bridge
Tiny children cross
creek on new fallen oak bridge –
they’re bright with delight
Like Skin
This form’s so simple
I’m almost ashamed of it,
but it fits like skin
Self-Immolation
The monk in the flames
can’t step out to talk to me –
I have to go in
Bright Shooting Stars
Rainbows in the hills
by day and bright shooting stars
above the night wind
My Company
I find myself here –
I’m glad of my company –
two hermits in one
Quiet
Now there’s quiet here –
I don’t know where it’s come from
or how it got here
Next To Nothing
All I can put down
of me is next to nothing –
so I nuzzle it
Escape
Simplest things escape
like moths in silver moonlight –
no calling them back
Dawn’s Red Ribbon
The bare oaks impale
dawn’s red ribbon on their tines,
lift it as it grows
On Mei Yao-ch’en’s “Mourning For My Wife, Three Poems”
A thousand long years
before my birth Mei Yao Ch’en
knew my love and grief
Late Winter
I’m already drunk –
cherry blossom ecstasy
is born in winter
Fox On New Snow
A fox on new snow,
the great big red bushy tail’s
sleek gliding shadow
Phantom
The phantom desire
rules my life and makes me want
what I do not want
Wisps Of Smoke
High up in the sky
migrating geese – wisps of smoke
without a chimney
Snow Storm
From featureless cloud
falling white flapping tatters
become one earth sheet
Sweet
Sweet, babble of doves
late in winter as snow melts
and the snow drops bloom
Blue Pair
A blue pair of jays
in the bare weeping cherry
under charcoal sky
Imagination
Imagination
is a country all its own
where I am not me
Applause of Coots
The applause of coots
taking off from this small lake
that’s still half frozen
A New Peep
Spring light’s suddenness
changes the cardinals’ song –
there
Winter 2003-4
Winter Solstice
Dawn after solstice
first pale pink light tells me sun
has not deserted
Stuck
I am always stuck
between “Hello” and “Goodbye”,
mispronouncing both
Snow News
News of snow can’t reach
the worms in the earth until
it melts and then delves
Afternoon Tea
In a cup of tea
I fall asleep, kept afloat
by a raft of dreams
No Way
No way to retrieve
a flake of snow, not quite like
all the rest, melted
Sudden Now
Now’s always sudden
for here it is, and then not –
whisper of regret
Pearl And Grey
Sky’s a patchwork quilt
of pearl and grey, whose restless
seams are never done
No Hurry
No hurry’s shut up
with the snail in its dark whorl,
slide on slimy foot
Bird
While I am reading
my mind flies away, a bird
seeking its own sky
Like A Wedge
Grief is like a wedge
that waits for sledge’s impact
to split me open
Oak Smoke
The smell of oak smoke
in winter sunlight tells me
I’m alive right now
Unruffled Ocean
The winter sky’s blue
as an unruffled ocean
free of continents
Whisper
Whisper of water
as flames lick a new oak log,
one hour from ashes
Stained Glass
Arms of winter oaks
carve blue sky into a maze
of stained glass windows
Skins Of Night
Grapes with skins of night
hold the fervors of sunlight
of a season past
Vanilla Moon
Setting in the west
vanilla moon’s reclining
on its bright backside
My Worries
All afternoon I
tried to sleep off just the fact
of all my worries
Scholar
I am a scholar
whose subject is ignorance,
my own, massive
Next
I’m next to nothing,
like lace chewed leaf or the frost
that morning will melt
Last Day
I watched the gold sun
set this last day of the year,
half moon at sky’s peak
Do Does
Do does carrying
next spring’s fawns have rough mornings
getting used to it?
Polite
How polite the splash
of small dark ducks taking off
from the blue of lake
New Year’s Eve
This year’s last evening –
when midnight comes we’ll drink just
as time’s drinking us
Memoriam
Sometimes I can read
my parents’ shapes in the clouds,
then wind scatters them
New Year’s Bloom
Next door the yellow
forsythia is blooming
in New Year’s moonlight
Old Hut
Something stirs in me
when I come on this old hut –
did I once live here?
Soft Clouds
Soft clouds floating in
from the west cover the face
of the waxing moon
Manhattan Wander
Manhattan wander
brings every face I’ve known
new before my eyes
Frisco Climb
San Francisco climb
takes me over a hill’s top
to another world
First Location
Cleveland’s sky of soot
keeps ashes before my eyes –
who were my forbears
Inland
Here, inland, right now,
I’ve a longing for the sea
and not a clue why
Meadow Knoll
On that meadow knoll
a lone oak flirts with lightning
that’s branded it once
Covey
White dog lifts covey
of mourning doves twittering
into the soft air
Listening
Listening is hard
and not work at all, no way
to trace how it blooms
Old Stump Cathedral
Old stump cathedral,
green moss spires, a vast dark vault,
insect worshippers
When I’m Not
I’m brushing with light
the facts of my life, so that
I am when I’m not
January Blossoms
This same cherry tree
blossoms each January,
pink flakes with white ones
January Twilight
Pink light slips from lips
of cold blue bottle of day,
as full ice moon climbs
Moon Pitch
From far far away
a full seamless moon curves through
half built hospital
Sudden Snow Squall
A sudden snow squall
last five minutes, then stops, gives way
to blue sky, gold sun
White Ice Full Moon
That white ice full moon
has been waiting forever
for a billiard cue
Fingers Of Cloud
Fingers of cloud stretch
across the sky, but can’t flex
to catch flying geese
Cold Dawn
Each paw a column,
white dog moves like a draft horse,
breathing plumes of steam
Porcupine
My questions are like
the quills of a porcupine,
helpless underneath
Fox’s Footprints
The fox’s footprints
cross the ice on an errand
known only to him
White Dog’s Happy
The white dog’s happy
in the cold with winter wind
roaring through the trees
Moods
In a single day
I travel so many moods
I confuse myself
Map Of Japan
Accidentally,
a crystal map of Japan
in stream’s ice islands
1 Mockingbird
In a world of white
a lone mockingbird unsure
what to sing or how
Fire
What’s the fire thinking
that it whispers so softly
in so many tongues?
Snow Laden
Dark snow laden clouds
are seeping in through the trees,
like smoke without fire
Blizzard
A blizzard wider
than half this continent with
not a single thought
Solitary
In a white snowfield,
a solitary oak, dark
as a lost eyebrow
White Table
On a white table
the white dog and I walk, two
tiny moving dots
Justice
Justice is longing
for simple freedom to be,
bloom without a pose
Salmon
Sunrise of salmon,
flesh of pink boned with bare oaks,
leaping up the sky
Reproachful
Always reproachful
my mother keeps her distance
even in dark death
Wind’s Broom
The sky has gone blue
again swept clean by wind’s broom,
its mindless impulse
Midwinter Peony
Peony’s pink buds,
rockets reaching to streak white
into spring’s blue sky
Strange Coin
Loss enriches me
as it impoverishes –
how strange is life’s coin!
Four Seasons
Past salt and pepper,
my beard has gone white as snow
through all four seasons
First
A crown of blue veins
the first woman I saw die
wore, slumping forward
Lake Ice
As the sun brings warmth,
lake ice begins to mutter
its age old complaint
Forgetting
In forgetting you.
I’ve come to know you better
than I ever dreamed
Sun-Struck
A fly buzzes by
and it and I are both one
and the same, sun-struck
Larger
My dead parents now
have no place to live but me,
larger than I thought
Like Smoke
Grief’s like smoke, writes what
fire has said, then goes to hide
in far-seeing sky
Old Picture
In the old picture,
my dad stands on autumn leaves –
now he’s under them
Snore
Music and sunlight,
Sunday morning stubbornness
of the white dog’s snore
Stirrings
Now, subtlest stirrings
of willow, weeping cherry,
new song in the hedge
Seventeen Year
Now, I’m waiting for
seventeen year cicadas’
weird resurrection
Acquaintance
Death’s an acquaintance
I made only after I
knew life, found I was
Pale Sky
Pale sky, paler blue,
a white moon rising in mist
at the door of night
Still
Will I remember
how I sat at twilight, still,
remembering you?
In The Wind
Spring is in the wind,
impatient, impetuous,
as spring has to be
All New
I remember not
a thing of spring -it’s all new
as it always is
Tongue Of Flame
Just one cardinal
in a bare dun and gold bush
speaks the tongue of flame
Bull Roar
Like some god struggling
to break free, the bull roar
of spring melting ice
Complete Spine
A deer’s complete spine,
hips still attached, is off white
in the melting snow
Taste Of Green
Before the last snow
has fallen, I plant spinach,
dream the taste of green
Spring Missiles
Skunk cabbages, green
tipped, purple horned, are rising
from their dark silos
River
Wind, river of air
that banks on nothing, my lips
twitch to set me free
First
Squirrels haven’t found
two pale purple crocuses,
the first of the spring
Wisps Of Cloud
Wisps of cloud make veils
for the moon’s shining face hung
up high in an oak
Winter 2004-5
One Cardinal
I always wonder
why one cardinal does not
set the woods on fire
Tiny Drab
Such tiny drab birds
have such sweet lavish voices –
I’m non-descript, too
Last Light
Last light of the year –
pink oak trees reach for the sky –
I’m both young and old
Winter Rain
Winter rain, steady
from sky as gray as the hair
that’s left on my head
Sixtieth Year
My sixtieth year’s
around the corner, I wish
I could bend light, see
After The War
Just after the war,
I was born, who knew nothing
of its strife, horrors
Grief Rebuilding
The war became part
of me and each breath I took
was grief rebuilding
Fifty Nine
Fifty-ninth birthday,
walking in snow with white dog
under a gray bowl
Understand Me
Understand me – light
changes instant to instant
and so does seeing
Dry Snow
The dry snow has stopped,
waits for the night wind to come
to shift it, sculpt it
First Star
Quiet of the night
as snow waits for the first star
to slip through the clouds
Black Nose
White dog disappears
into whiteness of the snow,
black nose left behind
All I Say
All I say is said
in passing, some chance remarks
before night takes me
Lapse
What I imagine
I am is less what I am
than my lapse from it
Indecent
All of this odd life
is indecent exposure,
how sun devours me
Young Crow
What a young crow knows
it knows deeper than its bones –
genes make tool making (Nature 13 January 2005 page 121)
White Antlered
The stain of shadow
on the smooth surface of snow –
oaks, high, white antlered
Still On Snow
White dog barks the bark
she saves just for foxes, barks
and is still on snow
All Love’s Lie
A cemetery
is what I am, place of rest,
where all love’s lies sleep
Frisbee Of Ice
A frisbee of ice
has formed in dog’s water dish –
I send it flying
Older
I’m getting older
day by day and all I know
is still not knowing
Deft Death
Deft death, Dad, unstitched
your shadow from your heels, brought
it to live with me
Escape
I’d like to escape
my own form, my only form,
flit from my own fit
As Alive
You are as alive
for me now as when you lived,
maybe less reserved
North Wind
Tips of the bare oaks
finger a powder blue sky
as the north wind blows
As Flu Flies
Oceans away ducks
are incubating our fate
as a fierce flu flies
Swan
Suddenly a swan
is what you were the first time
all those snows ago
Midwinter
The sun is liquid
in midwinter – I drink gold
from a snowy cup
Dead Fox
Dead fox on the path
down by the lake – reddish brown,
small, precise and still
Eleven Bluebirds
Eleven bluebirds
perched in sunshine by the lake
while ice melts, mutters
Blue Early
Blue early spring sky
makes the world a robin’s egg,
just waiting to crack
Echoes
Downy woodpecker
finds such different echoes
in just one dead limb
Woods
Woods make me happy –
I have no idea how
and that’s part of it
Creekside Sycamore
Creekside sycamore –
old Iseult of the white hands’
got nothing on you
NYC
New York, where I went
fifty seven years ago
to board my first ship
Bluebird
Bluebird over snow
with a red blush on his chest –
spring’s not far away
Shadow Barred
White dog in fresh snow,
her face shadow barred as she
trots through bare thickets
My Fatigue
More birdsong, more light –
intimations of fatigue
under white eyebrows
Unlike
I’m wondering why
why do I bother to speak,
quite unlike the pond?
Sudden Weakness
A sudden weakness
overcomes me as I start
to remember when…
This One Window
I’ve been looking out
this one window so long I
see through what I see
Here!
I am what I am,
only this, so lonely, too,
broken open – here!
Cell Phone
Rachel, in the woods
cell phone let me talk with you,
brightened the birdsong
Litowa, Tanzania
There in Litowa,
what made me so feverish
I knew I could die?
Simple Things
These things were simple
until I got to live them –
love, birth, death and hope
Spring 2005
Disaster
Disaster’s the star
that burns always too brightly
in hope’s firmament
Lost Question
I’m shy of myself
and wander this paradise
like a lost question
Blue Ease
A day slips away
as pelican’s industry
contrasts with my ease
Billion Years
These beaches have sand
to make a billion years pass
through night’s narrow hips
Soldier Crab Armies
Soldier crab armies
are on the move in moonlight –
little do they know
Sting Ray
Sting ray in shallows
a melodious shuffle
this side of flounder
Whispers
So many whispers
snake their ways through the domain
of what I can’t say
My Blue Eye
I’m made to be, cease
in a lost sun’s golden blink,
my blue eye, the sky
Lost Horizon
Horizon is lost,
blue into blue before black,
stars studded above
Vaster
Whimsy is a dream
of exit in a blue maze
vaster than I know
Dawn Breeze
Clouds are boiling up
from the horizon – dawn breeze
ripples purple sea
Orphaned
This is how it is –
when I dream I am no more
my words are orphaned
Rooster Knows
Rooster knows day cracks
always a new way, each pink
and silver new found
Frayed Green Sabers
This banana tree
brandishes all its frayed green
sabers in the wind
Palm Fronds
Palm fronds glisten green
under chalk runes written on
powder sky blue board
Clouds Trekking
Clouds trekking blue sky
are an alphabet before
any alphabet
Suddenly
Suddenly I find
I’m looking back on my life –
a fable, too true
Other
If I could have been
someone other than myself,
who would I have been?
Bows of Cloud
Unstrung bows of cloud
float across powder blue sky –
where’s Odysseus?
The Lost
In transparent blue
of a green day on St. John
I keep losing me
And Tang
Green turtle and tang
light filtering through the sea –
immediacy
Sometimes
Quiet certainty
of my sometimes ownership
of myself has gone
White Cloud Sheep
Indigo ocean,
stir of green in morning breeze
white cloud sheep graze sky
Bird Of Ink
Twin circumflexes
wheel high in blue sky – frigate
is the bird of ink
Horizon Words
There, horizonwards,
I look for horizon words
to join sea, sky, me
Weathered Rock
Weathered rock speaks of
immense force and subtlety
joined over eons
Peacock Flounder
Peacock flounder is
much more delicate than silk,
then becomes a rock
Restless Wind
The wind is restless,
works its way down the coast,
unknown to minnows
Fossil
I found the fossil
of an ancient dream of me –
couldn’t find myself
If I Knew
If I knew what I
was doing here, could I still
grasp sweetness of breeze?
Blue Is Blue
Catalog blue’s shades –
blue is blue, wanders away,
returns to be blue
Little Blue Tang
Little blue tang have
the foreheads of buffalo,
mass in submerged herds
Scent Of Chives
Not even this storm
can erase the scent of chives –
now is their moment
Sixtieth Spring
My sixtieth spring
and I know the score by heart
and yet each note’s new
Amber Ocean
This tea in glass cup
lets me sail amber ocean
and then swallow it
Piety
Golden daffodils
bowing their heads in the storm –
is this piety?
Old Old Friend
Tendons of his hand,
much tighter than they once were –
we shake and he shakes
Bald Eagle
Bald eagle’s white tail
floats effortlessly as bird
traverses gray lake
All These Years
After all these years
of living here with myself
I’m still a stranger
Into My Blue
Into my blue eyes
the eagle flew from blue sky
and is soaring still
White Flag
White petals migrate
on spring wind – can that white flag
cross shivering pond?
Bloodroot
Bloodroot blooms as white
as new snow all though the woods
and it has gold pupils
Death Relishes
Death relishes spring
as much as fall or winter –
it measures each bloom
Why, Eye
Why, eye, does it seem
that the red strawberry dreams
just because it gleams?
Jess M.
Robin’s egg I see
where it was decades ago,
long before you died
Alchemy’s Truth
Each story I tell,
by reason of its telling,
has alchemy’s truth
Curtain
With each shift of breeze,
cherry blossom curtain is
made more delicate
Aftermath
Aftermath, the growth
when hay’s been cut, how the dead
come up in my mind
What I See
What I see surrounds
what I can’t say, inkling in
extremity, this
All Year Long
I wait all year long
for the cherry to explode
into rich pink bloom
Black Limbs
Cherry’s beautiful
even in winter, black limbs
writing on white snow
Inner Emblems
When sun opens them,
red tulips show black rotors –
could they spin and lift?
Poor In Honors
I’m poor in honors,
poor probably in honor
as dandelion
New Lettuce
New lettuce is up
in fresh green dots and dashes
against the brown earth
Cold April Fog
In cold April fog
tulips fold their petals tight,
glow more intensely
Shad Tree
Blooms on the shad tree
merge with fog and so extend
themselves everywhere
What New
Jack in the pulpit
is trying to figure out
what new he can speak
Miniscule
These minuscule lines
try to net matter smaller
still and fresh and free
Blade Of Grass
Time that lets me live
kills me, too – I acquiesce
like a blade of grass
April And
Spring green pitches tents
throughout the woods – I’m inclined
only to idle
Far From Me
I can imagine
pathways leading far from me
I may yet travel
Translate
Twittering of birds
seems to translate the tulips
in a new language
Vast City
Old dead sycamore
is majestic in decay,
founds a vast city
Green River
Hundreds of times, more,
I’ve walked this path that flows
like a green river
Litter
Bright flags of fervor,
tulip petals now litter
the bed where they slept
Surprise
What I’m waiting for
there’s no way to know, for life
like death is surprise
Rachel, 18
You are like a dream,
child glowing green as I gray,
start to flake away
Fits, Starts
My past’s invention,
fabulous ghostly brocade,
woven by fits, starts
Winter Bones
Trees are lacy green
I’m forgetting the bareness
of their winter bones
Joints Predict
I’m of the age now
when my joints predict weather –
how I love sunshine
Back Up
Dogwoods in bloom – snow’s
climbed back up the trees, trying
to regain the sky
Pilfered Lilacs
Pilfered lilacs smell
even sweeter than the ones
that I’ve grown myself
Worry
I keep worrying
although violets have not
a clue why I do
Let Logic Go
I let logic go
I ‘m free to describe what I
see, what’s free of me
Dream It
Each instant’s so full,
so fragile and gone before
I dream it a name
Wild Light
I’m lost in wild light
I’ve known since my infancy,
before words had life
For LG
The solipsist’s muse
is a bubble in trouble –
I speak me, mean you
On Maple Root
Tiger swallowtail
lights on maple root, lapped at
by a cold blue lake
Like Talons
Majestic in flight,
bald eagle threatens with calls
that are like talons
Spring Blizzard
A stand of dogwoods
by the lake’s burly shoulder
makes a spring blizzard
Wild
Suddenly – morel –
in the middle of nowhere
where I am, too – wild
Greedy
Luck makes me greedy
instead of quite satisfied –
why, violet, why?
May 10, 2005
A beautiful day
is coming in the window
beckoning me out
Going On
How the world goes on
going on while in my mind
it’s just as it was
Cobra Lilly
Book, cobra lily,
teak chair, mild May afternoon –
who knows what I am?
Unseen Birds
A sleeping white dog,
pink peonies in a vase,
speech of unseen birds
Prayer Flags
The wind has eaten
two Buddhist prayer flags that
once were red and blue
Imperceptibly
Imperceptibly
afternoon ebbs into night,
as sky finds star eyes
Restless Art
This wind’s restless art
combs through the trees and through me,
never satisfied
Temporary
The sad certainty
is I’m temporary like
butterfly and bee
Red Winged Blackbird
Red winged blackbird flies
straight at me, torpedo with
scarlet epaulettes
Soft Whispers
Days seem infinite
until I hear soft whispers
of my end in me
Woman In Woods
Cell phone, cigarette,
Starbucks coffee – I saw this
woman of the wood
Spooked
Awkward and graceful
all at once, spooked blue heron
lifts off from the marsh
Carpenter in Tree
Wood chips are flying –
pileated woodpecker,
carpenter in tree
Pink Cherry Blossoms
Pink cherry blossoms
have now come and gone – did I
see them or dream them?
Immobile
In muddy river
a great blue heron, ancient,
immobile at dawn
Spring 2004
Before
My dead parents live
in my heart, as I in theirs
before I was born
Without Dog
Without the white dog,
whose leg is injured, I walk,
tentative orphan
Bright Peeps
Bright peeps of bird song
lift a canopy of fog –
forest floor’s greening
Quarter
Year’s a quarter gone
as small turtles sun themselves
on an old gray log
Last Fire
Last fire of the year,
saying goodbye to a friend
never without cheer
Spring Snow
First azalea
had opened one yellow bloom
before the snow came
Close
You can come as close
as you want, now that you’re gone –
there’s nothing to fear
Garbage Dump
Crows, seagulls, black, white,
both know heaven’s scent still lurks
in a garbage dump
Dunes
Even when we think
we’re settled, we’re still nomads
in memory’s dunes
Spring Cleaning
At 3AM we hear
mice stirring in the walls – can
it be spring cleaning?
Robin And Squirrel
Robin and squirrel
meet in a flowering plum,
then each one takes flight
Bloom And Blush
Now’s season of bloom
and blush, colors delicate
before summer heat
At Anchor
The weeping cherry’s
pink petals ride at anchor
on drooping branches
Two Lips
Forever, never
are the two lips together
that pronounce, kiss “now”
Least Monotony
Over and over,
spring happens, untroubled by
least monotony
Ash
Ash is soft, soothing
to worn hands, as if, transformed,
lost trees still sheltered
Softness Of Sleep
The softness of sleep
conceals the cunning of dream,
elegant as fox
Up, Up
Mourning dove twitters
up, up and away – I stay
behind in thought’s shade
Stillwater
Geese on still water
commune with their reflections
even as I do
Wildflowers
On the forest floor,
tiniest white eyes are open,
stare up at blue sky
Shad Tree
The shad tree flowers
schools of snowflakes racing to
climb back up the sky
Grief
My head aches with grief
and something else I can’t name,
what it is to be
Tiny Day
The sky is as blue
as a cap of robin’s egg
that holds tiny day
Planted
A person planted
in memory makes blossoms
pink as a cherry’s
Morning Walk
Morning walk takes me
through many decades in bloom
all at once this spring
Yellow Swallowtails
Yellow swallowtails –
spring morning surprise after
last night’s thunderstorms
Trilium
Purple trilium
is blooming, royal color
on the forest floor
Slow
On this cloudy day
the question mark cat is slow
until she pounces
Empty
Teak chair in the woods
is empty since I ‘m not there –
or could it be I am?
Unprepared
The death of a friend
is coming – I’m as prepared
as I’ll ever be
Talk
I talk with myself,
not excessively impressed
with what I’m hearing
Rain With Salt
Tears are rain with salt
and they wash the deep canyons
of hurt – sting, sing, soothe
Before Cicadas
Before cicadas,
the lilies of the valley
bloom in still white bells
Stitch
I’m an illusion,
a stitch in a tapestry
that lasts an instant
Puffs Of Wind
When I’m gone, I hope
that you’ll find something once me
in these puffs of wind
Deepest Memory
Smell of you haunts me
as sometimes it comes from me,
deepest memory
In Flower
Under elms I grew,
moved later to oaks, these now
in flower with me
Old Pink Dogwood
The old pink dogwood
is dying and still in bloom –
dogwood to the last
Each Second
Each second holds more
than I dare assimilate –
minute’s infinite
Explosion
Explosion from earth
is programmed in cicadas,
then light, music, mate
Old Tow Mule
Like an old tow mule,
I’m hauling the past forward
into the future
Jacob’s Ladder
How white are the blooms,
the rungs of Jacob’s ladder
the bees are climbing
Smell Of Chives
After lawn mowing –
scent of chives spreading upwards
through April twilight
Love Poem
Can a love poem
be as short as this – of course,
since our lives are, too
Dilated
The peony buds
are dilated now, so white
can be seen – bloom soon
Hands Off
Death and life just can’t
keep their hands off each other,
mingle in the wind
Babble
My babble’s fluent
held by what banks I don’t know,
nor where lies the sea
Snowing Cherry
Breezy afternoon
snowing cherry petals in
the old still courtyard
From Eden
A breeze from Eden
touches my cheek at twilight
and goes on its way
Snow Mountain
That snow mountain
is the tree peony burst
into lavish bloom
Cobra Lily
The cobra lily
has a throat of gold flame
hidden in the shade
Notebook
Of scraps of myself,
I make a notebook, which then
starts to sing and dance
Heron In Mist
That great blue heron’s
a note of dusk’s saxophone
suspended in mist
Marvel Of Mourning
Marvel of mourning –
how it enriches green leaves –
lives, breaths in the grass
Morel
Morel, dark cortex
crenulated on white stem,
beautiful as brain
Gold Peonies
Lions who open
their eyes lazily to see –
those gold peonies
White Mist
This morning’s white mist
reminds me of my mother
who has disappeared
You (For Joan, May 9, 2004)
Ordinary day,
this one both golden and green
is rooted in you
Oak Flowers
White dog’s fluffy tail
is full of long oak flowers,
so her wag’s golden
Legs Loaded
Legs loaded with gold,
bumblebee’s a treasure ship
in white peony
Time’s Everything
Time’s everything
and all around, illusion
of all illusions
Perfumed
Night is falling on
this perfumed day of mid-May,
swift ripening spring
Air Is
Ordinary air’s
unimaginably free –
it can simply be
Inchworm
In a white blizzard
an inchworm drops on my neck
from the wild cherry
Green God
The green god lives now
in each and every tree,
stirs with the least breeze
Nothing (Cambridge, May, 2004)
Nothing has happened
but life since I left these streets
forty years ago
Brood X
Brood X cicadas
are starting to get it on,
high electric hum
Each Leaf
Each leaf is a dish
aimed at the sun, receiving
on the life channel
Single Center
No single center
imagines how small or great
its own circle is
Fading Light
Evening’s fading light,
melancholy remembrance,
anticipation
Steel Band
Cicadas throbbing
like a steel band of the air
after the rainstorm
Sixth Sense
My mortality
is a sixth sense that defies
both beauty and truth
Mower
These false strawberries
are true rubies glowing now
in the grass I mow
White As Stars
As white as stars,
tiny clovers lift their heads
from a sky of green
Pink
Beneath cicadas’
racket, May rhododendrons
bloom pink and serene
Doe
A doe, listening
like me to the insistent
din of cicadas
Onion Domes
Chives make a city
of graceful onion domes on
slender green towers
Red – Eyed Cicadas
Red eyed cicadas,
ruby false strawberries mixed
in emerald lawn
When Print Fights
I’m moved when print fights
to get free of the page, run
the huge risk of life
Two Suomos
Grief and I wrestle
like two Suomos only I’m
the one always thrown
Mother
In the dust of books,
where you hid from life, I track
you now that you’re gone
Headlights
Cicadas’ red eyes
are like sparks that have become
an insect’s headlights
Tent Of Light
Morning’s tent of light
is pitched beneath a sky
blue as any sea
First Birds
The first birds calling
slashes of color on night
before sun’s first light
Blood Tinged
Mourning doves cooing –
white heads of clover on green –
dawn sky tinged with blood
Dun Does
Dun does are dancers
leaping through these spring pine woods,
showing snow white tails
Tethered Butterflies
Tethered butterflies,
lilies adore the hot sun
near summer solstice
White Horse
Dream brings my father,
ancient, cantering a horse
that’s as white as now
Cat Mint
The cat’s in the mint,
then rolling on her black back,
intoxicated
How Deep
No easy mission,
to survive simply, to feel
how deep the wounds go
Real Arrows
It’s a paradox
that when words relax, they come
taut, launch real arrows
Spring Rain
A sudden spring rain
soaks the white dog and me, too –
we both look sheepish
Darting Dragonfly
Darting dragonfly,
threadless needle sewing air,
the fabric of light
Half Afraid
Thunder scared the dog,
so she looked up at me, saw
I was half afraid
These Lures
Father, you’ve vanished,
no trace left behind, except
for these lines, these lures
Matched
Cicadas – many
compared to us, yet so few
matched with molecules
Summer 2006
Stupor
Stupor in the west,
chill fog in San Francisco,
inside and outside
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco bay
as blue as ever, blue as
I remember me
Market
Unimaginable
this mushroom here before me
lemon lion’s mane
Tumbling
I tumble in dream
like clothes in washing machine,
wake wet with wonder
Goldfinch
The goldfinch that flies
is not the same bird that lights
on my mind’s thistle..
Dark Line
Distant pelicans,
dark line on sea sullen blue –
I’m part of them, too
Ink Against Cloud
Pelicans are first
calligraphy on the bay,
then ink against cloud
Drake’s Beach
My bare foot touches
at Drake’s beach Pacific fringe –
cold is sudden, sweet
Sweet Peas
Sweet peas blooming pink
in salt flecked breeze – how little
it takes to find joy
Cliffs
In cliffs of Drake’s beach
I see myriad faces,
sand, rust, maybe me
Old Drake
I’m like old Drake, too
I touch and then must let go,
sail my own ocean
Taste Of Ocean
A taste of ocean
lets me be less and be free
as spray in the wind
Two Cormorants
Two cormorants dive
in unison, kin of ink
hunting in the murk
Voice Of Nothing
I’m voice of nothing –
miraculous – it forms sounds –
returns to silence
Lady Bug
One lady bug, orange,
in pocked well-traveled driftwood –
when did she hop on?
Liz
Ninety-four years old
dwindling she’s a sparrow
who hops off, takes flight
Clover
White clover is back,
the snows of yesteryear, here,
sweetened for summer
Hot And Humid
It’s hot and humid,
weather magnolia’s loved
since the beginning
Leisure
How much is leisure
the opposite of work, how
much work all its own?
Noose
Summer’s in full swing,
long shortening days, the noose
around its neck, loose
Embargo
An embargo stills
my tongue – what’s so precious, moon.
that I can’t say it?.
Bloom On Bloom
Milkweed’s sweet rotten
smell draws swallowtails to light,
bloom on dusky blooms
Like A Sun
One orange nasturtium
a fierce sun in the fragrant
purple lavender
White Snapdragons
Dragons with cloud jaws
fastened to green stems, tranquil
as twilight deepens
Thick Scent
Thick scent of milkweed
just before the thunderstorm –
bees stay hard at work
Inaccurate Slant
Inaccurate slant
of my small mind on all things –
every clown’s a king
To Be Lost
Each day is a maze,
mind is the seeker of threads,
the thing to be lost
Monarch
Monarch flew an orange
stuttering helix up through
apple tree to blue
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope, me,
yesterdays, tomorrows, now,
one stained teeming glass
Moon Alone
The lightning bugs have
done their work, leaving the moon
alone with the dark
Evaristo Medina
The gourd fish that’s signed
“Evaristo Medina”
swims decades with me
2006
I’m making my way
through another year even
as my way makes me
Never Before
Morning breeze in oaks –
I’ve watched this a thousand times
and never before
Looking For Words
I’m looking for words,
phantom flashing fireflies
in my mind’s evening
Becoming Rose
Oak leaf hydrangea
has blushed a becoming rose
on pale green petals
Old Sorrow
On a sweet morning
an old sorrow’s present new
and I’m helpless still
Green Momentum
Summer glides its course
charged with vast green momentum,
no way to look back
Awkward
Mastery’s awkward,
as is mystery, secret
the young can not know
Twilight Bird Calls
Bird calls at twilight,
a summery summary
of what can’t be known
Sticky Weather
In sticky weather,
stargazer lilies perfume
the entire garden
Huge Gold
Under the rumble
of afternoon thunder –
huge gold sunflowers
Summerscent
Summerscent of rot
comes faintly up off the land –
white clover’s still sweet
Aging Mind
In my aging mind –
yesterday and tomorrow –
hopefully confused
Becalmed
I’m irrelevant,
becalmed in being’s shallows –
or are these the deeps?
Just Waking Up
Tomorrow’s a dream
and so, too, is yesterday –
I’m just waking up
Mushroom
Mushroom’s a missile
launched from underground that can’t
quite break free of earth
Walking Junkyard
Don’t know what’s in me
let alone how it got there –
I’m walking junkyard
Lebanon, 2006
Murder never helps
drive the terror farther off,
but makes it a home
Somewhere
Jagged canyon walls
intrude between the seconds –
somewhere a river
Leaving Part
Death is the drama
whose leading part, leaving part
each one comes to play
Wasp
Wasp in blooming thyme,
black and full of menace as
a helicopter
Peaceheads
Tall stargazer stem
is a lance carrying pink
fierce fragrant peaceheads
Equator
A beige Port Clyde rock
with eggshell white equator –
a world in my hand
Hat
My daughter brought me
a hat from Australia –
she’s gone beyond me
Bare Feet
My bare feet find smiles
in the moist cool morning grass –
how can I resist?
Dead Mouse
Dead mouse in the grass
and gray cat matter-of-fact
asleep in the shade
Delicate
Something delicate
is the source of all my strength,
something less than me
Collage
I snip surroundings
to hazard guesses of what
might be inside me
Beside The Point
I’m beside the point –
I can’t reach out and touch it –
it’s shy as I am
Pack
The white dog and I
find on the floor the comfort
of the pack we lack
Or What?
I’ve nothing to say,
yet I hunger to be heard –
irony or what?
Almost Cool
Evening’s almost cool
as the day’s fierce heat retreats –
mind changes its clothes
Fine Fierce
Heat brings cicadas
up to a fine fierce frenzy
which calms, collects me
Terraced Garden
A terraced garden,
many years in the making
like a single glance
Old Screen Porch
The old screen porch holds
white dog and me as the rain
pours out of white sky
Sieve And Sand
I’m the one I was,
also the ones I wasn’t –
I’m sieve and sand both
Placid Rabbit
Placid brown rabbit
munches clover the color
of his cottontail
Fox’s Bark
Fox’s distressed bark,
bright beyond the reach of brass,
flame leaping from dark
Travel
I travel remaining
still within myself, watching
myself come and go
Samoyed
Samoyed, white dog,
Shira, song and poetry,
four paws on my trail
Orange
Summer’s first monarch –
once there were thousands and more –
orange in morning breeze
Pale Fingers
Morning’s pale fingers
fondle the moist of meadows
pat the grazing deer
In The Drizzle
The fireflies flicker
eagerly in the drizzle
after twilight storm
Mint’s Delirium
Mint’s delirium
floats on the staggering heat –
gray cat sleeps in it
Dream River
Beside dream river
Dad and I hiked so many
green and speechless miles
No Secrets
Happiness – a guest
who comes unannounced and claims
to have no secrets
Frustrated
Mosquitoes surround
the gray cat – they’re frustrated
by her thick smooth fur
Pine Nuts
Pine nuts come from pines,
but everywhere is pining
that’s the fruit of love
Living Frontier
I’m living frontier,
an edgy intermingling
of what’s found and flight
Qana, July 2006
I’m diving the past
to grasp the present wreckage –
all the dead children
Turn Away
I would turn away,
but what I flee follows me –
I’m in Lebanon
Noon Heat
Deep purple basil
is soaking up summer sun –
noon heat is intense
Twin Beauties
The beauty of peace
and the beauty of combat
are always at war
Sixty Years In Peace
Sixty years in peace
I have lived now and struggled –
immense good fortune
Baton
What is this sorrow,
but the conductor’s baton
marking time’s music?
Bull’s Eyes
Bull’s eyes scattered through
these green woods – tiny spiders
fish soft summer air
No Remorse
I feel no remorse
when I crash a spider’s web –
expect none from quake
Still Brown Rabbit
Cabbage butterfly
buzzes the still brown rabbit
in the white clover
Immense Slaughter
The immense slaughter
that is the wealth of nature –
why should I escape?
Lost Books
Yellow swallowtails
ripped from lost books of the sun
flit afternoon dreams
Just The Same
Sixty years old now
and just the same as I was
in my second year
Without A Map
I keep slipping away –
where I go I just don’t know –
man without a map
Mouse Guts
Gray cat left mouse guts
on the porch – I think of war
in lands close and far
What Tailor
What tailor cuts hope
to make it suit what can be –
how does he measure?
Late Summer’s Whimsy
Late summer’s whimsy –
fertility’s foolishness –
tomatoes on the ground
Morning And
Sunday morning and
quiet and the lift of light
up through breeze stirred oaks
Forests Of Feeling
I wander forests
of feeling, try to ask fox
what he knows for sure
Almost Home
My life’s an exile
in country that’s almost home,
borders never still
Words Change
Words change as I speak
so I don’t know what I’ve said,
what I meant to say
Tiny Packets
Fabulous tangle
of cerebrum where light lives
in tiny packets
Wild Grapes
Wild blue-purple grapes
are almost all skin and seed,
a long way from wine
Gout
My right ankle aches –
the years have given me gout –
I still love to walk
Bright Red Seeds
Jack in the Pulpit
is loaded with bright red seeds,
trying to make more
Goldfinch And
Up into the green –
goldfinch and two cardinals –
color in the breeze
Still Riding
Along that dead log,
new crop of Dryads’ saddles –
so they’re still riding
Can It Be
What’s most obvious
most intrigues me – can it be
that I really am?
Soap Bubble
I keep throwing spears
at the soap bubble of self
but it never bursts
August Tomatoes
August tomatoes
each big as an asteroid
each bite red delight
Don’t Ask
Is there more to love
than hope and need conspiring?
Don’t ask an old man…
Prison Prism
Everywhere I’ve been,
I’ve been only in myself –
my prison prism
Green Chestnut
Single green chestnut
spiny as a sea urchin
hides a brown planet
A Story
I am a story
blended of, descended from
millions of stories
Settled Middle
My hopes deceive me,
as do my despairs – how rare
the settled middle
Sandcastles
Building sandcastles
by this sea – tides carry off
hope and memory
Like Phosphorus
Wild white clematis
burns like phosphorus in rain
that just won’t let up
Bushel
Despair’s the bushel
whose dark conceals the tiny
intense light of hope
One Week
One week of rain now
and it feels like forever
just as the drought did
Broken And Whole
My heart is broken
and whole as I watch the rain,
think of those I’ve lost
Mist I’m Made Of
Into emptiness
I keep looking – where did mist
I’m made of begin?