The grey lake,
Filling up with
Rain.
In shade, a blackfly
Buzzes about my head--
Then it’s gone.
Such silence,
This silver-flat lake--
Then a trout leaps.
A quarter moon
In this midnight-blue sky:
We walk and smell pine.
Birds
In the smell of forest
Sing.
Inside, my wife pounds
Beethoven; outside, seagulls
Cry.
Mudboggers
Roar in the distance:
Giant buzzing flies.
Excitedly I
Pluck one of our onions--
Wiggling worms stick out.
Hay rolls
In hay fields: jelly rolls
For giants.
Marshmallows
Big as tractors
Litter hay fields.
Their tails straight up--
What do these ducks see
Down there?
In this quiet room,
I open the window--
Carpenter-noise.
Poet in a lawn chair,
Sleeping, pen in hand,
Mouth open.
Children swing and laugh:
I close my eyes and I am
There, laughing too.
A girl in the park
Cries: gulls nearby eat garbage,
Ignore her.
Poet in a lawn chair:
His pen lies in tall grass
As he still sleeps.
A double rainbow:
If only today could
Be special.
A cowboy yodels
That strange language. Why
Do my tears well up?
Cleaning out the shed--
Old toys of children moved on.
I stop, catch my breath.
We buried grandpa--
Still his wind-up watch ticks
On the dresser.
Caterpillars chew--
The sound of green leaves
Disappearing.
Poet in a lawnchair--
A niece looks closely and asks,
"Mummy, has he died?"
Crisscrossing trees
Strewn on dry gravel--
Run-off long gone.
"I hate thunder."
"So do I." "Me too."
Why don’t I?
On dying flowers,
Little bees wiggling
In the snap of fall.
Lightning,
Cloud to cloud--
No sound.
Pounding rain
On our sagging tent:
We hold hands.
I love thunder,
The way it rattles windows,
Makes me afraid.
Seated on a bench--
A curly-haired woman
And her poodle.
Waddling geese
Honk at sunrise-golfers,
Sound angry.