I had all but given up
Time and time again
she derided; I objected; she denied; I retreated
The pattern played itself out,
the numbing fibers I was extruding
entangling first my feet
until I had held myself firmly down
Expecting less and less,
the soul dies a shred at a time -- not all at once;
nor is it immediately revived
Leaves had long since fallen
Snow had drifted long in the wind
Branches had forgotten greenery
... now new buds stretch to find the moist air
I emerge at long last from my cocoon,
diaphanous wings sparkling in the spring sunlight
-- how fragile and vulnerable, I now know
I will take care of them
I am flying
-- Spring 2006
Brushing my teeth over yet another sink
Stiff in the neck from sleeping on the couch
Drinking gas-station coffee while cactuses tick by
at seventy miles per hour
Seeing my girls smile to see me again
Nomad indeed
I have found my home:
it is wherever
I
am
-- Spring 2006
I had thought a parent would teach,
hard-won wisdom flowing from older to younger
like so much water running downhill --
I would smile
with a knowing wink
as you received these inheritances
Absurd
Your blue eyes flash in the sunlight as you look behind,
your laughter floating back to me on the wind,
your strong seven-year-old legs skating past me with ease
I am still learning from you, young one
-- Spring 2006
Thoughts tangle as ever
Behind each deadline stands another,
in a compressed infinite recursion
A day off; lunch eaten; an errand run
The light is red
and
as if heretofore unseen, as if brand new:
Rumpled cloudtops dazzle in the slant of spring afternoon sunlight
A white bird tosses distantly on the stiff wind,
like a piece of scrap paper,
yet rising under its own control
It is 2:37 and a half
The world is poised on its pivot
waiting to go
-- Spring 2006
I didn't ask for all this snow on my sidewalk left here in the unconscious night with such downward, paternal abandon No one else is the homeowner so I had better get shoveling Otherwise an innocent passer-by -- or worse yet, someone dear to me -- could get hurt-- Summer 2006