Friday, November 15, 2024

 A Winter Rove

Shimmered moon, crystalled ring,
Delight of winter’s snowflake bling.

Gently fall to caress the face,
Finer lace, slowing pace.

Bridled bird, murmured owl,
Solitude of sound, softly now,

Response, rapacious, coyote call,
Wind leads wind, icy, raw.

Solaced sky fills the eye,
Natural balm of light on high.

Gentle Gaia gilds, altered hue,
Darkened view, dim made new.

Daylight dawns, alpenglow,
Sol paints with purest, pastel flow.

Touched and tattooed, colors me red.
Morn, night, the ageless wed.

Thursday, August 3, 2023



Carrying On

Holidays finally swept past
Precious time spent alone at last
Blessed night white Christmas

Holidays throngs, festive patrons
Families, loved ones here and gone
Canyon snow was such fun

Bleak winter doldrums e’re so blight
Meager, lacking warm sunshine bright
Avoiding liquored fights

Friends, family’s rejections, mourned
Sadness and grief, dismal, forlorn
Parts of life, ripped and torn

Fair weather friends always the worst
Small talk, if any, wary, terse
Never blessed always cursed

Absence felt deeply, emptiness
Darkness, regrets, life’s shallowness
Bitter fruit, hollowness







Wednesday, April 5, 2023


Elegy for Marie

His, mine and ours she described, face set sour
She the shy country girl bursting to flower
Product of failed marriage or death too soon
Snapshot memories from clear afternoon


Mooning the shutter, two sisters, three brothers
Mischievous grinning surrounds
sweet mother
Framed by a door long lost to squared edge 
Remembrance those absent hits like a sledge


I never met you, young sister of mine
Your existence a mere one day of time
They said brain and spine not yet fully sewn
Eyes wide open  for mother’s matrix lone


You softly came and left-empty space felt
Thoughts of fragile life, e’en coldest hearts melt.


Winter Lament

The snow melted quickly followed by a soft rain.
The hardscrabble road is muddied, it does not drain.

Vehicles parked at road's head, a brisk walk ensues.
The snow is blinding white, playful glistening hues

Where are my cross-country skis? I was not ready.
Watching the pros, they make the sport look so heady.

I fall and get up again, only wounded pride.
I, the novice, barely learning to stop and glide.

Next time it snows, determined to not be sidelined.
To join the venturing crowd, for this I have pined.





Lost Recipe

Family traipse to West Virginia hills
Song of lulling creek leads to places stilled
Yon simple world of all set right

Grandmother’s kitchen of harvest home due
Collards with ham hock, pintos on to stew
Sour milk cornbread's waft of delight!

Wains banished to reap apple tree’s bounty
Greening promise of lush Logan County
Ancient tilled verdant valleys bright
Better Days

The man stared in the mirror 
White skin blotchy in the harsh light
Pasty cheeks,  pink uninviting 

Aging with unkempt manners
Unpolished, plain mask where face should be
Old facade hides youthful dreaming soul

Sickened by his current plight
He forges ahead to paths unknown
Hoping for better days, years to fill

Music and poetic arts
He seeks the sublime in natures' ways
The man alone, his world, he watches. 





Winter's Duties

Chased from the garden, wind biting
The season's change unexpected 
Dormant perennials resting

Winter sunshine is soft to the eye
Promises of spring to succor
Beckoning by cloudless blue sky 

Soil to prepare, no easy sod 
Holes to dig wielding mattock and shovel 
Thin soil tops layers of thirsty clay clod

The smaller garden lays fallow 
Fruit trees fan out to provide shade 
A quiet space, sparse and hallow

Blackberry hedge, verdant running  
Uncrowded roots relish rich soil
Enlarged space succulent spreading

Soil easily tilled hides hardpan
Mattock breaks brittle compacted
Clay, to mold with ashes and sand

A windbreak of branches and limbs 
Gales unrelenting, bring havoc 
Shredded plants appear sparse and grim

Summer growth is coaxed and nurtured
Birds feast on pesky grasshoppers
By vociferous swarm perturbed 

I will build dwellings for their nests  
Will provide water for their drink 
They keep at bay the garden pests 

Up at dawn, simple existence
Songbirds to awaken the day 
The eastern sky in pastel tints

  A Winter Rove Shimmered moon, crystalled ring, Delight of winter’s snowflake bling. Gently fall to caress the face, Finer lace, slowing pa...