coyote calls make canyons quiver
stars sleep in ponderosa trees
dry your tears in the fire’s glow
wild is a pretty place to be

Red, scarlet, crimson, vermillion
Orange
White
Black

Consuming all beloved and leaving only ash

Crackle, huff, roar, bellow
Pop!
Sizzle
Hiss

Destroying all memories for to fondly reminisce

Singe, burn, blister, blast
Cough
Smoke
Light

This unchecked monster eating, dying, leaving with a bite

The surging ocean ripped me from my feet
And from my face erased stupidity
For I was smashed into the ocean floor
And learned a lesson with rapidity

So whenst you step into the turbid sea
I beg attend the state of wind and swell
The ocean educates all people free
But some did not return their tales to tell

The ocean hides no secrets in her waves
To all who care to ask she tells the truth
To know her is to know how to be brave
And how to love a happy tumult, too

But waves are varied, never constant things
The winds that drive them often calm to sing

sharks are worms!
they are invertebrates
they don’t have bones
they just have cartilage

on some summer days there’s a zephyr effervescent

a sweet summer wind that carries honey in its heart

with the sun’s loving gaze making all incandescent

78 degree days are a study in art

muggy summer dreams are born like ripples
on nights when water seems, like, really deep
sunsets never earned the title simple
and I never learned the trick of easy sleep

changing seasons find a many altered
I’ve lately been more needle than a leaf
but needles stay when broad leaves falter
cold in snow and blanketed in grief

twilight could have taught me to be strong
disappointment’s indistinct when weather’s warm
I know that summer dreams will freeze ere long
though that keeps them not from being born

honeysuckle by the trees
white and gold and goldenrod
little leaves and buzzy bees
warmth and winds are tall and broad

summer very soon to be
rustling winds and racing clouds
air festooned with blossoms free
how I wish for summer now

a sky that brims with thunderclouds
and air that’s thick with promised things
a front that’s coming from the south
the color of a pigeon’s wings

the creek is swelled, with rushing sounds
with foam and dirt and strength of will
and speedy driftwood drifting down
as lowlands quickly start to fill

at length the pounding water slows
and winds that howled are tamed to ease
the air is honeyed as with cloves
from petrichor and linen leaves

the clouds relinquish briny hues
and let themselves be taken white
the sky demands its tenant’s dues
and overcomes with shining light

water sparkling through my fingers
wooden warmth against my cheek
on the docks I wish to linger
with the koi, in turbid peace

when did I get up and leave them?
why did I not stay to sleep
my lullaby the motors’ hums
my dreams of waters still and deep

wild violets in the forest
colored like a friendship’s dream
could not be like the morning glories
yearning for sun’s golden beams

they live softly, close to earth
they are fragile, in confession
but no less vivid in their shade
or indeed in their expression

Capricious clouds we know and cherish
Unfurling like a fisher’s netting
They come to birth and then they perish
We are adoring, then forgetting

I can’t forget the yellow flowers
That sprouted in the sunkissed field
Where I spent countless cheerful hours
The memories are pressed and sealed

The field is gone but I still breathe
The world around me falls and rises
Like the water in the salted seas
A ticking clock with no surprises

The ocean’s days are all the same
But water lives in constant change