By |

heat envelops

and wounds the world

skyscrapers scrape away

orange-blue clouds

iceberg tips revealing so little

                there isn’t much more to convey…

fires and flares,

omens from the sun

a shrinking planet

cries out No More!

By |

It’s high noon in the not-so-OK corral.

Horses are getting weary, spooked.

Tumbleweeds and split rail fences

embroidery the western landscape.

I feel my heart tugging away

at the barb of wire coiled around

a scroll of Naugahyde peeking out

from a prairie schooner wagon

as the mule team chomps

at their bits, pawing at the red

Texas clay, keen on striking out,

Oregon-bound, eager for

a little Pacific redemption.

By |

shE riDeS tHe BuLL

wItH dEft aPLoMb

hEaViNg leFt To rIGhT

nO wAyWaRD fAkEs

No hiDdEn sLIGhTs

nO dUcKs, nO bObS

hErs iS tHe will

tO eNdUrE tHe fight

tHeIR bArBS mIGht RanKLe

sTiLL

shE cArRiES oN

LEaNiNg in tO wHaT

sHe kNoWs iS rIgHt

By |

Yellow elephant

How odd you appear

In the light of a harvest moon

Baggie shorts, neon sneakers

Crown of dandelions

Encircling your big, fat,

beautiful head.

No matter!

I love you regardless—

Where else could I find

So warm & loving an embrace?

By |

there’s the under, the over

the hot, the wet, the cold, the dry

savory counters sweet

joy rises to blanche all grief

inner pushes away the outer

bottom supports the top

flop undoes the flip

GO defies the STOP

By |

beetles scuttle through fallen oak leaves

meadow mouse weaves a nest of grass

flicker of wavering candlelight

a dozen or more flames dance & sputter

in the cool October mist

ivy-laden downspouts outline

an ancient crypt beneath a Hunter’s moon

its barred entrance faintly luminescent,

a teasing come-hither to what awaits inside

indecipherable headstones tilt at odd angles

footpaths littered with arboreal debris

chipmunks scamper among the graves

searching, perhaps, for long-lost kin