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