~
Sun drips
on leaves

not the backyard variety
but the trembling kind

the kind
that welds night-time
intermissions to
the roof of the mouth

sonnet-filled
evaporation
reveals
the timely concealment of
a very, weary
inanimate object
at the brink

just enough hip
to be woman

just enough wild
to be frontier
~

Seasons change
Just ask the jay
Whose plume is blue
As the sky
After a fierce rain
Inundates the land
Bringing with it winds
Whose currents lift the jay
To dance among scattered clouds
Waving a final goodbye
To the warmth of summer sun
Setting past falls forward
Into winters grasp
Whose chill shocks the jay
With visions of ice and snow and frost
A sign to migrate to warmer climbs
Where fall has fallen backward
And summer sun rises anew
Challenging the changing season
To remain sunny and blue

Cold days are over
Shades on the Orchid’s petals
A gift from the Sun

Spring morning,
quiet. One coyote,
three deer
running in snow.

What else have I seen?
A sparrow hawk in mid-air ******
a robin, a sharp-shinned hawk catch
a rabbit in its talons.

A deaf mute in a pear tree.
Not one wolverine
in Utah or Italy.
Nor a famous samurai.

A young black bear
traverses the lawn in August.
Also quarks. Also oaks.
Do not disturb its progress!

A red fox
alert, no limp
flows silently
across the meadow.

First light, green tea.
A person thinking
epochs and eons.
A platoon of chickadees.

clouds roiling   blood blue
a day of mouths feeding mouths
i feel subpoenaed

furrows   being turned in the earth
mouths feeding mouths
my thoughts   stimulated

birds and their young
mouths feed mouths
nourishment

Hey there.
It's been awhile.
The ink dried out in the corner of your smile.
The pages got all wrinkled
like the edges of your eyes.
And it's been at least 4 years since I've seen blue skies.
But look at that there!
The pen is in bloom.
It's ink spilling out as the sun does at noon.
And I can't wait for you to sit there
in your rocking chair
and read Sunday's cartoon.
And you'll ask me what I've wrote
I'll give you a quick note
and we will spend the evening on the swing.
You'll drink your teas,
I'll watch the bees,
and we will spend our eternity in spring.

Harvesting all the blooms
the cherry red dahlias and sunlit marigolds and buds with hues of ambient mornings thinking of how it feels to touch the sunrise and upholster the wind to this couch
where a turbulent heart rate tends to rest

wondering if in all the laughter and friendship and years and years
of things to talk about, to hold onto
to catch distances in my hands
and rest them on my palms
with all the wonderful things you will do

I work in my garden growing mornings
ones I pray will bring upon a rain
that will shower on the places
where you happen to be
that will sink into your grounds
and give you everything you need
To flourish