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Unexpected (But I Was Warned)-(Poem)
once I decided to throw away this world
as a glittering prize that can never be reached
I began to see the vivid greens of grass and tree,
such variegated hues, with sudden splashes of contrast
in the cardinal perched upon a limb or a robin’s bold breast
I view these now when my eyes are failing
I hear the mad chatter and scold from backyard squirrels
with ears likewise diminished for their task
as if in these shortened minutes before I depart
a veil has fallen away that once obscured
and I walk amidst light that dances with the laughter of emptiness
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Soldier Boys (Poem)
a sighting of a mountain cicada, green-shrouded
silent, perhaps dying or dead
a gentle thing out of place on the hot tarmac of the road
far different from the first brood that appeared one year on the Gulf
huge monstrous beings with bright red eyes
wings so sharp that they would draw blood
if their pointed neon-hued legs did not do that first
(I bled a lot that year, being insatiably curious)
soon they were EVERYWHERE
covering not just trees but everything outdoors
coating the banks of bayous and the surface of the pool
they changed the rhythms of life by making us adjust
then vanished, a short season of dark magic
we called them soldier boys
I never knew why
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I Would Have Preferred A Wake Of Vultures (Poem)
she is gone. that is all.
the how, the why, the when are nothing.
they cannot change these things:
the bed no longer warmed by her long limbs.
the blanket dampened by my tears.
the pillow lonely without her head.
that she walked into death with willing hands,
the river her only road of escape,
this does not matter.
her absence is the bedrock of grief,
the hard ground where I have lain,
and from here I have to stand.
