vine as explorer
a wolf among the willows –
prophets take walk
and cannot return
the same way
Paper Town
/sun simmers
on suburban roof tops
yet we still enter
the paper town
of wasps and bees
Gone Things
/beneath a bridge
of trees
colors of youth
remnant of old ways
dirt roads drifting
between winding rain gullies
what if
I no longer
hear cardinals in the pines
or see chickadees at my old sill
an estrangement of emptiness
in a crimson hooded heart
courtship duets
strumming evening air
fireflies landing to illuminate
single blades of grass
if my memory fades
are you still here?
Take my Petoskey stones
to skip your ponds
or sacrifice
unto Vermont rivers
returning gone things
where gone things go
Leaving
/sycamore songs
and the release of one
heart-sized red leaf
geese and blackbirds
gird for southern passage
leaving those who must endure
Sedum and chrysanthemums
fall asleep fully clothed
in October
and ice as reflection
will lend only dimness
of who I am
North
/charitable dusk
and this crimson hooded heart –
let us ascend this horizon
to bravely face
True North
Midnight Mass
/in night's backyard
beyond garden and gazebo
a little high
but not wayward
she falls asleep
under Ursa's eye
knowing the way
yet a little
lonely