Those roses with thick, thorny stems
November 1, 2017 § Leave a comment
Those roses with thick, thorny stems
lasted three years and more
growing on tall, tenaciously
after the business closed
Rooted firmly on the western corner
of that forgotten property
a building that once housed a grocery mart
the kind of place well-off people might shop
Before the uncaring landlord fenced in
the roses and the walls pasted with bills
homeless men used the roof
they slept in the safety of daylight
guarded by beautiful sentinels with
large green leaves and rich red blooms
Those roses with thick, thorny stems
that for three years or more survived neglect
That bloomed richly red amid dark green leaves
today lay piled in a heap
cut down to the raked dirt
I mourn the loss no one sees
the waste unheeded
Where can a man sleep?
Where can beauty grow?
6/4/2010
Autumn Crows
October 25, 2017 § Leave a comment
So quickly comes the autumn chill
With rain-fat clouds in a changeling sky
With shortened days, and harvest’s thrill
The sultry sun is suddenly shy.
Wool and warmth are sought in clothes;
Noisy crowds of bold black crows.
9/15/2005
Floating Leaves
October 10, 2017 § Leave a comment
As measured as the falling sand encased
within its glass pours its grains,
Our delicate threads of friendship baste
the pieces of a new pattern.
With Silver Needles, we stitch the hour.
Steeped into the tea we share
A quiet kind of renewal is fixed ~
A steady seam, a sure repair,
And the tranquility of floating leaves,
Fashioned to unfurl like a flower,
To mend what I would have thrown away.
With a paper crane I give wings
to the words I cannot shape to say.
Invitations, and green tea ~
These things hold a simple power.
9/13/2005
Summer’s Day
September 10, 2017 § Leave a comment
His love is like a summer’s day
More lovely than William’s sonnet
Like the restless wind of a woodland glen
And all the scents upon it.
Herbs crushed beneath my step
Only mimic his skin’s perfume
Beneath my lips like raspberries
And sweet as a wild bloom
He is as warm as the sleepy sun
And calm as the afternoon
His embrace is like the comforting silk
Of a moth’s unbroken cocoon
I wish my summer’s day would last
Til May becomes December
But summer days I cannot keep
I only must remember.
5/13/1998
The earth trembled, but only where I stood
August 10, 2017 § Leave a comment
The earth trembled, but only where I stood
And the sky, no longer blue, split a seam
Shivering, I gasped within the fog
As in the moment waking from a dream
Overturned, the basket of the world
Spilled out the messy contents of my head
I leaped for down, but upward made my fall
I reached for peace, and found my love instead
My thoughts spin, and from that spindle drops
A thread of rich and variegated hues
And while I sit here plucking at the knots
To salvage wisps of floss that I can use
Then thread through a needle of my hope
And patch the gaping rends within the skies
The earth trembles — but only where I am
As if the universe has grown in size
11/16/07
Come at me sideways
June 5, 2017 § Leave a comment
Come at me sideways
the way these dark clouds slipped over
sidling up with open intention
and no threat
Ever wonder why I let them?
Why the shadow
is as often as the sun?
Come at me sideways
and keep your hands low, and open
Eye contact is a challenge;
avoid it.
Come at me when I can move
because if I feel trapped
by a single, blocked doorway, if I feel cornered
One of us, or both, will have to be hurt
in my break for freedom to breath.
I’m a woman, but that doesn’t mean
that a wild thing doesn’t struggle in my chest
So easily frightened into rage —
I cross my arms to hold it back.
Don’t speak, not even softly
Don’t ask what is wrong
But if you can leave something to draw me out
maybe, this time
we can do better.
11/26/2011
Rose Gold
May 20, 2017 § Leave a comment
Atlantis is sinking into the golden sand
El Dorado will be leaves by dawn light
City of faerie gold
For a gilded day in a century, you can visit this village
but by night, the fog will cover Shangri-La
Oh, and the ochre leaves of autumn blow away
under the veil of night, in Camelot
Come away, come away to the Goblin Market
And when the clock strikes thirteen
We will all fall down
Ashes
Roses
Pale water —
Atlantis is going under the waves
That which was never found
is lost at last.
2009
