golly gee — what if I were He … and I could sow what I would reap in the heart and soul of this family — we are family — aren’t we all? did you know — come on — did you? who doesn’t, captain obvious — oh, please grant me the serenity to change…
Storms
Above ground the clouds circled Below ground the waters came Caught in the cracks of the walls Down to the foundation through soaked Earth with sorrow and sadness while Fear and anxiety gathered in the storm Giving pause for personal reflection Held hostage in the core of yesterday’s Interior locked in its shadows, Jailed behind…
Letting Go
When to let go? when do I …? when does the holding on stop being pain and become a habit of always checking the door before bed always running a fork through my fish always hanging an ornament given by someone you don’t even remember of dusting dog bowls four years empty — when does…
What did the Grouse Hear?
What did the grouse hear as the Father talked to his Son — what did it hear in the reassuring speech, practiced over a glass of rye, in the repetition of “I will always love you”? Walking among the thin ground cover, random and haphazard, the mottled markings passed on from grouse to grouse as…
Oh Pinot
Oh, you, breaker of hearts, you awaken my palate with burgundy kiss fill my glass with celebration but just as often rot … just within reach sweet fruit for yellow jackets who suckle upon your tightly packed vines. Oh, you, breaker of hearts I salivate waiting for your mineral kiss soft soft soft upon my…
I’m anonymous
I’m anonymous — I like it that way I know who you are — I like you my prey I take what I want — destroying the rest I learned a long time ago — it’s easiest creating my code — that makes me smart opening doors — now that’s my art I think I’m…
Home
I am home — home — in a word home — in my name — home in your word — home — I hear near — here home — an inn with a breakfast — in — bed a place — plates — for two a piece — fragments — shifting to individuals — apart…
Thirteen
Bring me 13 Feathers of a songbird murdered 12 Broken promises weathered by ice 11 Frozen bubbles caught in the snow’s demise 10 Shattered branches sheared below 9 Blunt blades of dead autumn grass 8 Empty acorns buried deep in hunger 7 Drowsy blood-filled mosquitoes woken by the equinox 6 Maple leaves turned to mud…
A Hammer
It was gift from my father “It’s yours” it’s weight — all his life in toil — beaten and chipped like the burden he carried on his shoulders now bent with bursitis. “Take this” his shouts when he swung framing 2x4s into tight places “Take this hammer” to build your life — it was not…
A Legacy in Place
We together sit upon the earth in the shadows of a sundial that connects Me to the soil that fed me from the mud patties I fed me with a place that grounded me of a ground that holds family Us under the sun defines place out of it seasons my own by it my…