solstice morning
five basalt boulders
surrounded by snow
an icicle forms
drip by drip
deadfall
in the oak grove
Foxfire Moon
I whisper into the hollow tree
grandma blinks twice
hurricane remnants
only the coo
of an Inca dove
images of hell on earth
plasma tornado
caught in the scent
of night-blooming jasmine
neutron stars
cooling peach pies
her rack draws a crowd
***
chatting about
the chicken roost
at Andalusia Farm
breaking the speed limit
making it to mass on time
life flies by
wishing I wouldn’t have chosen
the carpool lane
erasing a pencil heart
from a yearbook picture
high school quarterback
scored more than a touchdown
at homecoming
a gentle, insistent command:
leave the helmet on
running through wildflowers
chasing her dreams
bluebonnets
a wolf pup
under a sweetshrub
searching
among the branches
harutsugedori
a raindrop shatters it
the Falling Leaves Moon
the hayriders
get stuck in a ditch
tractor pull
the red-veined darter
buzzes the labyrinth
Ziggy played guitar
jamming good with Weird and Gilly
and the Spiders from Mars1
Plutonians board ships
for sunbathing on Mercury
***
don’t be silly, mom,
I won’t get cancer
I’ll live forever
taking the perfect selfie
he takes one more step back
they promise to return
to Watkins Glen
each anniversary
pinky swear you’ll stay away
from the hawthorns
the whole hillside
blooming with dianthus
April sunset
long shadows
longer days
I’ll bring the merlot
and the the glasses
meet me by the lake
dipping my toes in the water
I lean in for a kiss
making out
in the back of the Oldsmobile
90’s romance
removing her top
and beckoning him into the night
hiding its shame
the cat covers
its business
failing to guess
the riddle of the Sphinx
Easter Island
deciphering the meaning
of the stone heads
listening for the silence
of the Song Moon
***
the scarecrow
hears the click
of the heels
we keep attempting to satisfy
this insatiable hunger
he makes her
chocolate covered strawberries
with bitter cocoa
Cortés demands to see
Princess Tecuichpotzin
behold a white horse:
and he that sat on him had a bow;
and a crown2
how can horsehair sound
like a dying pangolin?
blue hour
the light through mist
withering
a child dreaming
on a pillow of clouds
Rainbownougat
the narwhal
brings her tea and cakes
macaroons or macarons
raccoons or trash pandas
opalescent pansies
whistling down
a rogue dumbledore
the Red Queen|
shuffles the deck
Sobbin’ Robyn:
I wanted to sit on a porch
with my sister wives3
he plants a ficus
in her backyard
***
in the lawn
playing leap frog
garden bed
an army of totally identical
injection-molded plastic Buddhas
a golden calf
in the shape
of an iPhone
Siri, please activate
the tsukimi simulation
LED leaves
changing
with the season
emerging from the elm stump
chicken of the woods
Anna Nicole Smith
feeds J. Howard Marshall
his favorite mushroom soup
D. B. Cooper
would have been proud
shutting the case
they pop
the champagne
still closed for now
the buds on the plum
we nod politely
as the teacher explains the “F”
on our son’s poem
failure yet again
they suffer an empty nest
odyssey
the monarches gather
then depart
moth to a flame
the toddler runs to the bonfire
***
the stirring
in the stand of birches
Lynx Moon
deer season
a doe walks into scope
one persimmon
and then another
drop into darkness
using rat poison
to kill the opossum
Royal Typewriter
Jessica Fletcher fetches her copy
of Human Anatomy
needle in a haystack
the janitor’s keys
adding the
cherry blossoms
to my Lego bonsai
the gladiolus bulbs we dug
rotted during the winter
my son follows
the earthworm trenches
with his finger
the foxholes
of Verdun
99 luftballons
the hot air balloon race
ends in disaster
100,000 years
in the Oklo Reactor
chemical changes
the teenagers’ hormones
ramp up
slipping off
the satin sheets
***
casting my
favorite body part
for him
the perfect preservation
of the Vendobiont
Lightning Moon
the desert littered
with obsidian
taking my neighbor to court
over the willow’s weeping
pumpkin field
the jack-o’-lanterns
we imagine
trick-or-treat he dares to ask
the madam to loosen the chains
there's rosemary,
that's for remembrance;
pray, love, remember4
Globe Theatre
men sweat under their pantaloons
coolness
a king rail foraging
under longleaf pines
quick make a u-turn
to see the white rhino
thump
thump
new moon
“Randy get the shovel
it’s gopher pie night”
a sweet potato baby
with a face like a
par-boiled yam⁵
lingering warmth
a black bear turns back
***
brave observer
he sits in camouflage
trying to get a snap
all he sees is Polaris
spinning overhead
pear petals
propel downward
raining on their picnic
the sound of the south wind
lifts a hare’s head
it sees
the emptiness
of the tomb
evening meditation
koi in the pond
lilypad
her strength hidden beneath
her beauty
caress of granite on granite
the Appalachians
¹ David Bowie “Ziggy Stardust”
² Rev 6:2 KJV
³ TLC’s “Sister Wives” Season 18 Episode 14
⁴ “Hamlet” Act 4 Scene 5
⁵ “A Mighty Wind”