Kharma (No Laughing Matter)

Making my way
around school hallways
I came face-to-face
with a smallish boy
"YOU SUCK!"
flew out of his mouth
and smacked me
right in the heart.
My only crime?
I wore thick glasses.
Years later...
Kharma took his legs.
Now he knows
how it hurt.

A Shared Shelter

A circle of women
Huddled in the basement
Shivering in the dampness
Of a Tornado Warning

Fat-fluffed Robin
Blown into the window well
Huddled against the windowpane
Shivering in the driving rain

All waiting out the storm

Butterfly Wings

Bright red geraniums
In the sun room
Rescued from a 27 degree
New York night
Dropped 2 red petals
On the carpet
Clutched in a 2 year-old's fist
Next morning
A pot of butterfly wings
In a small child's imagination

The Memory of Fire (AKA: The Monument Fire, Father’s Day 2011)

It dances along
The ridges of dreams
Rings the edges
Of dinner plates
Scorches throats of conversation
It hides in summer’s
Long-term memory
And pops out
In the weatherman’s
Dry, high fire warning
It is still fueled
By winds of worry
It’s devastation
Still smolders
In the ashes
Of hearts

My Brother's Birdfeeder

A new cedar birdfeeder
made with love
filled with songbird feed
to attract the higher echelon of birds
Breakfast on the porch
hoping to glimpse
their glory
Only to be met with
their shyness
peeking from the opposite side

A Brother's Love

Seventeen years
Separate our births
A twenty year lapse
And 900 traveled miles
Across the desert
Reunited us
Brother in my Father's role
Stepped back into
My brother's role
Showered with gifts
Of his hands
Working with wood
Resurrecting my little
Rocking chair
And family stories
Entertaining and filling me
With treasured tales
Holding my brother's love
Close to heart

Listening to the Dawn

Awake before
the house begins to stir
I let the dogs out
to chase the rabbits
and claim their yard
I listen as the
quail call to
neighboring coveys
shouting their joy
for the new day
a myriad of birdsong
sings a greeting
I listen
as the dawn
warms the mountains
and my soul