Category: Poems

as she grows

my back aches
from picking up scattered toys
no wait
the pain is from holding her

always moving
even perched in my child-worn arms
doesn’t know
yet what life is demanding of her

i am here
to shield the storm as she grows
but soon
too big to be completely protected

so i choose
which part of her is exposed to the rain
and which
is taught lessons not by me

she has curious anger
directed at me for her soaking arm
not arm
but battered emotions i couldn’t, i didn’t cover

footbridge

i take a picture
as i stand at the beginning of
the wood and cable footbridge
august, belt, montana

mother and daughter
hold tightly each other’s hand
guide careful, uneasy steps across
the parallel planks

the bridge sways
as they move in matching azure shirts
over copper brown creekbed
flanked by granite grey

tree limbs encroach
on the cable rail and wood deck
needing to be hewn back for protection
of the bridge

it doesn’t matter
the bridge will fall late next april
by foolery in an obscure town
already expendable

but today
mother and daughter cautious and delighted
cross the swinging bridge, smiling
creating memory indelible

desert harmony

i saw you and him
in the high desert
in the heat of the day

i saw him first
and spoke briefly
he said to visit you

you were tending your garden
surrounded by white pickets
with a brilliant smile

you had the heart of every boy
but your heart was only his
early on

and as i stood
outside your fence
i felt delighted for you

capulin

dawn waking

crisp, new morning

labor of the day

tired heat of late afternoon

long shadows casting beauty

straining against fading twilight

dark sleep, mind finding light

gone

if i write it in stone
it will crumble

if i write it in steel
it will be worn smooth

if i write it in pixels
it will be erased

if i write it in my mind
it will be my treasure

father dream

your father came to me in a dream last night
actually it was a dream within a dream
you were in the dream

i discovered you working in a crowded place
but that’s not how i know you
you and i are family

i haven’t spoken to you for a very long time
we were pleasant with each other
but it wasn’t smooth

i saw your father after we said goodbye
he’s been in heaven for a long time
his message was simple

tell him i love him
and i felt i had to
i love you too

music, stopped

i am suddenly aware that i am the only one
who hears the music echoing through my mind
no one was close enough to hear
but that is beside the point

the music is carried, is hefted about with me
no instrument is needed, no music player
no button for the next track
no way to fix the skips

is that why i was embarrassed when i became aware
maybe it was the appearance of a man and his son
half a block away, but entering my world
and so the music stopped, censored

i don’t care that the music stopped
but the button is hidden and i can’t press it
can the man or his son
start the music again for me

civil war 2020

war unseen
territory unmarked

commanders untrained
command chains unknowable

soldiers us all
cause dubious

battle lines definite
ill defined

middleground no man’s land filled
trenches sparse

no armistice nor victory nor surrender
replacements without limit

weapons mightier than sword or pen
invisible destruction