Surprise
Sour cherries glow
as red as coals, but don’t burn
the mouth they surprise
“Live small…”
“Live small and be large”
slight motto for a cruel time
when sloth and greed rule
Now Is
Now is the surround
that’s always here, for it stays
even as it goes
Blackbirds
The hypnotic grace
of birds in flight setting type
on the sky’s blue page
Fog SF
This fog is bracing,
muffles sight and cleanses mind –
soft life from the sea
Oakland Docks
Shining flightless cranes
lean over hulls heaped with “goods”
or should I say “bads”?
“Your days are numbered”
“Your days are numbered”
says the setting sun – I know,
long for the new dawn
As Little
Mother, dead mother,
you hear me as little now
as you did in life
Our Boots
Our boots by the wall,
dusty from the morning’s ride,
still and eloquent
Llama
I sit on the porch
and look out on the valley,
watch one brown llama
Curtain
Curtain of purple
delphinium by the creek
rushing down Lundy
Out The Window
Out the window now
mist shrouded hills running north,
still horses grazing
Small Black Frog
My horse’s hoof just
missed a small black frog – neither
of them were concerned
Whispered Thoughts
I whisper my thoughts
to the white dog, sure she’ll keep
my confidences
Abiding
The abiding green
speechlessness of pines under
the great mountain’s brow
Raccoons’ Window
The wild clematis
has almost reached the raccoons’
window in the oak
Rain Hesitates
The breeze barely stirs
the huge limbs of these old trees
as rain hesitates
Lost And Found
Each and every day
is lost even as its found –
memory’s a dream
Near 60
What I know takes me
by surprise as if I were
twenty and dreaming
Pasture
I move the fences
in my mind trying to keep
me in green pasture
So Many Beauties
So many beauties
have perished but still burn bright
in my heart’s night sky
All That’s Left
I’m all that’s left now
of so many that I’ve loved –
I cling like a leaf
My Sixtieth Year
My sixtieth year
and now autumn comes around,
death wrapped in rainbow
Soft Flights
Autumn’s beginning
in soft flights of golden leaves
in cool sheets of mist
40 Years Ago
Forty years ago
I was harvesting gold wheat
in Chanzeaux, green dream
Never
Time can slow and speed,
but never swerves from the course
it and I must go
Thought’s Mist
The cool of evening
settling through the green of trees
finds me in thought’s mist
Lost
Lost in reflection
I cross the path and wander
deep in these old woods
Bounding Deer
I love bounding deer,
how their leaps inscribe half hoops
in the forest green
Offshore Islands
The offshore islands
disappear and go to sleep –
waves lap with soft tongues
New World
When I go to sleep,
I wake up in a new world,
page after bright page
Opium
Opium’s a friend
because it banishes pain
and much else, alas
Drugs You Need
Drugs you need have made
your face blank and soft and sad
despite your fierce will
No Place
Looking at your face,
I take in the sadness you
have no place to keep
Hatless
I greet the acorn
that falls hatless at my feet
and then rolls and stops
Black Wasps
Black wasps in mint are
so massive the flowers bob
as the wasps hug them
Shadow And Light
Shadow meets light where
countless alphabets struggle
to be born and write
First Apple
Ma, the first apple
fell from the tree you gave us
when you were alive
Message
Clouds drifting blue sky
can’t decide on a message
so just sail along
Spicebush Swallowtail
Spicebush swallowtail
on wild white clematis – light’s
the spice of spices
Not Worth A Damn
Prayer is not worth
a damn unless it’s tattered
the way our hopes are
Clay Colored Toad
A clay-colored toad
motionless on a clay road –
white dog misses it
Shoreland 1003
Blue Lake Michigan
on the bright edge of autumn –
first day of college
Depths Of This Winter
I will be sixty
in the depths of this winter –
snow already drifts
Same Light?
Is the light the same
as when I was young, before
I saw through myself?
Autumn Raspberries
Autumn raspberries
darker than the red of leaves,
and sweeter than blood
Mulberries In Spring
Mulberries in spring
and the raspberries of fall –
white dog devours them