Aubade: Mourning-dove

Dawn fires

the cold roses

one-

at-

a-time, 

when, with

planetary urge,

all explode to

vermillion

conflagration.

Then the cherry tree,

plain in

drab leaf,

erupts into

emerald

glory,

and high

from the bright rooftop

the mourning-dove

sings

his low, plaintive

song of 

love.

(15 June 2014)

Apple Tree Waiting

troymainelocalnews.com - 1600 × 1200 -Photo by Dana Wilde

An apple tree gnarled in the snowless cold off the Myrick Road on Jan. 11.

the apple tree waits.

its bare, twisted limbs reach up

to the trusted sun,

thrusting inward, to

the core

of its own

sweet

fruit.

(24 Feb. 2014)

empty

empty

under the stream

inhaling thick

liquid

panic

I reach above

to where gloom

dissolves to

shimmering sun.

(29 Jan 2014)

Morning Visions

Morning Visions

I

Like a river glimmering at morning

memory flows softly.

The road ends abruptly,

pavement dissolving into primal mire.

There is no sky,

no hard, limiting blue;

only white mist sinking deeply

into indefinite winter fields,

the trees infinitely rising,

the broken land darkly waiting.

II

Vagrant fog bursts

to metallic blue light

dirty grey, pierced

by the unforgiving sun,

by the harsh, perfect sky.

III

California is a sharp line,

the western horizon, unrelenting, pure,

absolute blue

against the unmistakable edge

while in the east

clouds hover —

bright, deadly rocks

over eroding hills.

(20 July 2016)

Graduation Dance

Graduation Dance

The gym was dim.

Red and white balloons
glittered in the dusk
while flashing lights writhed
on the dark floor
like enchanted water-snakes
gliding through scented fog.

This was a celebration dance!

Eighth grade done at last,
they stepped, hesitant, into the roiling
teen-age sea,their synchronous, bobbing heads
attuned to the be-bop rhythms of the city (not their city),
and the lusty calls of the hood (not their hood).

Smooth gym walls echoed the dj's mechanical angst
endless, relentless beats, the racing heart of the machine,
artificial sighs, nano-seconds long and gigabytes wide.

The boys, spinning on heads and leaping from hands and
flailing legs, showed an athleticism
never seen in PE,
while the girls huddled in their own dark corner
and planned their move;

their fashion walk,
legs strutting ahead
of swaying hips,
heels clicking the hard, dark floor,
as they stalked right up to the foul line

where boys were spinning and leaping
through throbbing lights
to the tribal, primal beat.

So the girls turned,
hips flung in defiance,
and sashayed back to the wall,
staring hard at the gaping boys
over their swaying shoulders.

(28 May 2009)

Nocturne: October

level land

fields

blown brown

and hard

fade with day

to

hazy

night.

the wind does not move!

there’s

a smudge

on the

moon

and

even

the geese

are

silent.

(10/8/2013)

water pooling

water pooling, thrust-
ing to fading sky arch-
ing to apple
leaves
dripping slow-
ly to green
depths
of water pool-
ing.