impressing our boys
with the catch of the day
sea star
where do the waves
begin and end?
amber grains
dancing for me
Hunter’s Moon
an alien whiteness
in the ruffed grouse nest
woven placemats
and handprint turkeys
homemade Thanksgiving
closing their eyes
and bowing
getting my head
stuck in a turtleneck
polar vortex
the gale takes a plastic bag
anywhere else
***
north, south, east, west
a dart decides
their next adventure
a pub crawl
in Belfast
The Potato Famine
burying Kathleen and Mary
by their empty garden
ever the giver
she offers to be eaten first
agreeing enthusiastically
the pipevine swallowtail’s proboscis
extends
puffing up his pride
the pomp of the great argus
a child
wanders from the yozakura
to the maple grove
tapping the trees
for the pot of gold
glacial erratics
a red-bellied cooter
lurks lakeside
turning over the Barley Moon
in search of sustenance
the corn silo
brimming
with silence
sneaking jeans under skirts
Amish Halloween
flannel shirts
she digs through her dads’s
grungy past
why did Eddie Vedder even write
down the lyrics to Yellow Ledbetter?
***
her childhood diary
each page stained
with teardrops
written on the wall:
mene mene tekel upharsin¹
sparing the rod
he spoiled the child
Veruca Salt
an April thunderstorm
slams the old oak into the fence
wet shorts
from the tire swing
magnolia blossoms
the bubbles he blows
float past the horizon
sneaky girls
use mom’s hair dye
to color the eggs
we hid them all well
to get a few minutes together
but at my back
I always hear time's wingèd chariot
hurrying near²
satin blindfold and straps
Victoria’s secret
everything changes
when John Brown
grabs her horse’s reins
Come Farfelkugel³
Broomhilde’s delusion
alas,
she finds him canoodling
with a Rhinemaiden
her cheeks as bright
as the Rose Moon
***
grandma shows me
the blush
on a transparent apple
strong like Samson
seeing by faith
you’ll be surprised
how much bigger it looks
once it’s trimmed
clippers right down the middle
point of no return
“recalculating”
letting AI redirect
her life plan
ahh! a loop on the Luna mount!
you might be psychic like me!
the time knife
slices through
the Jeremy Bearimy
how do I get the tequila
out of this Klein bottle?
trying
to master filling
the Pythagorean cup
mouse whisker brushes,
soot ink, and rice paper
setting the course
for the yacht
according to Pyxis
they decide to both jump
into Waponi Woo
cigar smoke
blurred his aim
blue dress stain
dancing to Mitch Ryder
and the Detroit Wheels
***
she sidles up to him
and whispers:
$1,000 on lucky 17
honeycombs filled
with man’s number
jackdaws
storing bits of clouds
in Rosslyn Chapel
making snow cones
I shave down the Cold Moon
Alberta clipper
a fawn cowering
under hemlocks
trembling new legs
child’s first ice skate
clinking crystal glasses
the nutmeg
sloshes and settles
nine years in
he’s finally sure
candlelight
they order the chocolate soufflé
for dessert
the lightness
of the peach petals
apricot sours
the withering
of their friendship
breaking the tough stems
of wild mustard flowers
relishing the thought
of his release date
Riker’s Island
lichens on the north face
of the redwoods
***
Napa Valley stomping
can be heard all day
in Yountville
then crickets
all night
feeling alone
walking through the crowded
haunted house
the deep black lake closed
darkly over all that remained⁴
Uncle Arlington’s
cigarette ashes
easily fill his urn
a place with green grass,
dandelions, and violets
a hairstreak caterpillar
gorging on
sweet cherry blossoms
coming out of hibernation
she shaves her legs
flipping over a stone
he reveals
another world
“mom, we are out of the Milky Way,
going to the store, be right back”
1.21 gigawatts
is not nearly enough power
to open the wormhole
exploding through the doorway
a speared tentacle
husband out of town
she embraces
her octopus-lover
every 4 weeks
he orders his meat rare
***
drops of blood
singing down her neck
as dawn begins
choirs ring out
as the heavens part
hazy figures
in the distance
Hot Moon
an oasis
or Fata Morgana?
bearded dragon
in awe of the lady
at the county fair
not caring about
the lost luggage
we find ourselves
trapped inside
a caramel creme
walnuts cling
to bare branches
streaker on the field
yellow card thrown for
illegal ball handling
oxyphenbutazone
on a triple word score
three’s a crowd
she books us a
king size bed
the hospice nurses smiles
and says it’s almost over
a fox pounces
on her dinner
clear winter sky
a crack in the china plate
a limb crosses the Quiet Moon
***
only its light
divides us
frozen rill
multiple languages
not one of them home
grey and orange
under bizzarria blossoms
cats in love
fresh squeezed juice
the crunch of a June bug
Beltane
clouded sulphurs
take flight
let’s go down to the river
and get washed by the water⁵
broken glass
atop a memory
I want to forget
each piece she flung away
becomes a star
¹ Daniel 5:25 KJV
² Andrew Marvell “To His Coy Mistress”
³ “Robin Hood: Men in Tights”
⁴ Edgar Allan Poe “The Fall of House of Usher”
⁵ Joshua David Silverberg, Colby Wedgeworth, Jordan Alexander Feliz “The River”