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