White Egrets
In the tidal marsh
white egrets at attention
as stiff sea breeze blows
Opened Mouth
An open mouthed fish,
white, dead in seaweed tangle
washed up on Drake’s beach
After Point Reyes
On the other coast
I left myself walking the beach
with wind for my thoughts
Just As Flimsy
I try not to put
pressure on words, let them know
I’m just as flimsy
Pepper Red
Here in mid-July
drought has brought a few leaves down,
turned them pepper red
Too Many Of Us
Monarchs – not a one,
blue fin tuna are few, too –
too many of us
River Talk
The river can’t hear,
but it talks and talks, says things
that sound new each day
Peppers
Little green rockets
poised atop their green fuel tanks –
hot chili peppers
Trilling
Trilling cicadas
ancient chorus of summer
under a deaf moon
Dead Mouse In The Path
I cover distance
so I meet such diverse fates
looking for my own
All Wrong
I’ve done it all wrong –
but what was it, anyway?
I’ve no idea
Monarch In Maine
A monarch in Maine,
first of this long hot summer,
flying speck of hope
Waves And Clouds
The waves and the clouds
get all mixed up together –
they’re only water
Notes
Take notes on nothing –
these may well prove instructive
should you meet something
Slant
Birches on a slant
half fallen after the storm –
white slashes in green
Subway Platforms
Living and the dead
mingle on subway platforms
where my mind runs trains
Never Speak
If I understood
what I meant to say, I might
never speak a word
Terns
The chattering terns
are gaiety and terror
sharing the same sky
Popham Beach
All’s apparition
on Popham Beach in the mist –
my feet, yours, the sea
Flash
Flash of kingfisher
down the spine of the dark creek
after a hard rain
Tiny
Tiny hummingbird
sixteenth of the cardinal
that passes over
Self And Sparrow
For self and sparrow
each evening’s setting sun is
renunciation
August Firefly
August firefly
virtually the last one
tiny spot of gold
Sheets Of Sunlight
Like sheets of sunlight,
yellow swallowtails flit through
green of late summer
Siam Queen
Siam Queen basil
has grown dark spires, now flowers
a subtle purple
Daisies
Orange daisies bloom
the eyes of unseen tigers –
sultry afternoon
Riches
Of the world’s riches,
I’ve tasted next to nothing
and that is plenty
Like Snares
Cicadas are mute
as a soft rain takes their place,
playing leaves like snares
Twanging
The frogs are twanging –
has a string instrument drowned
in the lush green bog?
New Minted
Lifetime’s wondering
doubles back in itself – I’m
new minted naive
Getting Older
I’m getting older
and am almost innocent
whatever the charge
Stormy Skies
Perfectly peaceful,
the snapdragons make rainbows
under stormy skies
Day Of Rain
A whole day of rain
I’m waiting to spy the first
lean praying mantis
Milton, Delaware
Scavenging the beach
for dead fish, fox spied English
professor, bookless
Rest
I can’t imagine
the rest of my life, how rest
at last will find me
Before
Before the downpour
the gray cat, storm cloud color,
sleeps at lily’s base
My Beginnings
Stranger and stranger
to me are my beginnings,
once all that I knew
Brainforest
I am wandering
restless as the wind all through
the deep brainforest
Salt Shaker
Salt shaker, can you
rain down wisdom on my head,
even if it’s bald?
Now
The strangeness of now
is how familiar it is –
I dream I know it
Afternoons
I spend afternoons
walking the groves of my mind
while shadows lengthen
Pigments
Pigments of feeling
color the autumn landscape –
am I more than haze?
No Bindings
Empty shelf fungi
long for books as leaves float down
but without bindings
In The Woods
These hours in the woods
in light, wind at water’s edge –
do I think at all?
Loose
White dog’s middle aged
and I am older than that –
we’re still on the loose
Lasso
I am a lasso
that’s thrown about emptiness,
which yet slips away