Year's End

I start with a lie. That's too strong. A falsehood. How about a miscalculation? The year has not ended. That's a fact. We are not at year's end, not fully, not yet, not now. I start with the half life of a half truth. I start with a start, a stutter start. I stutter my strut of a start because I have nothing to say, nothing to say except to lament the rubble and ruins, the strewn limbs and blood rivers of Putin's nightmare backward lurch into history. To think that World War Two was over? And to honor, I can't find proper synonyms, the bravery, heroism, patriotism, valor of Ukraine, its people amidst the smoldering slaughter, that mother on a gurney outside the bombed maternity ward they later said she and the baby died, that image to remember, like the silent scream freeze-frame shot to the head in Saigon, or the white man brandishing the US flag against the restrained black man, the soiling of old glory, Stanley Forman, and so on, ad nauseam, till death do us unite. Even before year's end I want to flip the calendar, turn the page, close the books, hurry before there's more, hurry up, there's time, and that's both horrifying and hopeful is it not.

starblind (poem 014-2021)

look

through any window

this one not that

upon a windshield

glint splash flash

wildfire light

blind blinding blinded

folded felled

the light fantastic

going going gone

then reprise

if you please 

screenshot (poem 013-2021)

who are you

wanted: dead or alive

a fly on the screen

is that wind

or life

trembling wings

wavering legs

show me a sign

sneeze or something

wink or rub

your appendages

in ancient ritual

pose or perish

fly away

there's my answer

you never needed one

 

Fillmore Glen steps (poem 012-2021)

flagstone

slate steep

up by one

up again

gorge trail

footstretch

ankle bend

breath theft

upward rockward

rail-free

thigh thrust

inch up

 

down 

 

is

so

easy

haiku of an afternoon (poem 011-2021)

 

magnetic Morse Code

touch dot dash skin heart dash dot

galvanic you me

 

June day (poem 010-2021)

ivy sway sashay breeze ginkgo branch tulip wilt magnolia ripple lavender ocean sky cobalt blue verdant riot emerald chorus leafy symphony olive sage pea sea lime bottle green love you

halcyon now (poem 009-2021)

now not then

not if

but yes

halcyon heart

kingfisher soaring

serendipity saturated

sailing into today

sky song air

cerulean magic

Simple (poem 007-2021)

the letter unsent

telegram unread

the news today

hopeless romantic

unmoored Moor

driftwood adrift

you were

never

you

nor

me

me

shake it up, baby

 

doc said I have essential tremors

I get that

who doesn't

I know, right

a little trembling is downright essential now and then

you got that right

especially in this day and age

it's the dawn of another age

or another rage

for real

maybe an earthquake is the planet's essential tremors

letting off seismic steam

try a little tenderness

is it contagious

ain't no cure for love

Love Potion Number 9

keep searching

my teeth chatter

who could blame them

the words they've uttered

makes me judder

in my own skin

my nervous envelope

as Proust said

remembering things past

and present

 

haiku for an August Sunday

cumulus drifting

maples swaying and bowing

locust's lazy song

taking a sip

what's the harm

who will know

just a taste

after the dance

just a touch

no pain all gain

we can manage

a single kiss

ain't no trouble

have one more

just a sip

give it time

give us time

for one last hit

before the slip

lurks a lie

has a name

shiny bauble blaze

sends a scent

and hides a truth

of fire and rain

flame and fury

crashes to ashes

rust to dust

mother's day, first and last

so dawned the day

breaching my birth

of quickening light

so broke the bleak midwinter

bearing December's child

too early on

touch and go

no breastful of milk

while homeward bound

we now ask what

moonlight we can give her

besides memory

of love like a stone

dropped into an empty well

echoing

still

Gravity Eventually

anvil or feather

finch and hawk

magnolia leaves

lavender ivory

this April wind

landing

me

somewhere

Unmoored

we rode a ferry

anchors aweigh

poses proffered

tossed aside

touched ashore

two of us

an island

so long ago and far away

moorings mourned

between the brackets [closed captions]

indistinct radio chatter

footsteps approaching

crowd jeering 

inaudible

engine running

clears throat

plate clattering

chuckles softly

elevator dings

voices murmuring

birds chirping

explosion

applause

overlapping conversation

footsteps receding

clock chimes

whimpers

sighs

gunshot

Angela cooing

crowd cheering

door opens

gasps

sirens wailing

Serena crying out in pain

clamoring

airhorn blaring

grunts

breathes heavily

door closes

Handmaids laugh

horse whinnies

helicopter whirring

belt rustling

exhales

sobbing

all chuckle

scoffs

crows cawing

sniffling

paper rustling

cattle prod buzzes

rapid ticking

buckle clanking

Aunt Lydia laughs

pigeons cooing

knocking on door

belting continues

Janine humming

Angela gurgling

Angela gurgling throughout

Janine laughing

church bells ring

'Rain Sometimes' playing

water flowing

laughs
 
 

Small Acts

being there

absent

being here

AWOL

cold sheets crumpled

small ax chipping

away the last word

unsaid curses

speaking volumes

splaying fingertips

smack

one needle's

kissless breath

a death

a broken branch

brakes the cliff

as two strangers

across a room

clutch hands

almost

stepping off a Manhattan curb

taxi's concussive whooosh

you twelve feet behind

14th Street Union Square

a drop of blood

an aneurysm of ecstasy

the hot spinemelt of lava pleasure

purchased in vein

no dial tone

to text

my year of living dangerously

around the corner

around the bend

of a prisoned purse

pursued and purloined

before locking the door

after praying to

the dried rose

I once gave

her

you

winter haiku 4

last night's snow dusting

searing albino light bath

melting flake by flake

 

autumn haiku 5

swirling spindrift snow

crystalline cabaret howl

November storm night

autumn haiku 4

oak beech elm maple

 

spare bronchiated branches

squirrels scurrying 

 

autumn haiku 3

canary yellow

manila goldenrod leaves

supermoon rising