Will I?

Only a step away,
and yet I'll never
know you unless
I take that step.

Look Again

Bright blue sky
No birds in sight
Expert lifts scope
250 broadwing hawks.

Pleas

Grass cries with
parched blades
for cool carress
of gentle rain.

I cry with
aching soul
for sweet relief
of tender grace.

World cries with
bleeding land
for fading hope
of lasting peace.

Poor Ostrich

Icon for denial,
poor ostrich
can't compete
with average human
who faces the end
of life as it is.

Haunted

Echoes keep me honest,
reverberate, replay memory.
Echoes insist on empathy,
superimpose past, possible
futures on each moment.
Echoes keep my honest.

Seasons of Self

Tilt of earth's axis
creates predictable seasons.
My own tilt spins moods,
less predictable seasons of soul.
Makes no sense to accept earth
seasons and shun my own.

Refusal

Song says You don't know
what you've got til it's gone.
I refuse to live that way.
I know what I've got.

Crash

Historic air show.
Brave old planes
wakened memories
of heroic times.
Stories, laughter,
shattered by screams
when plane hit stands,
Terror, severed legs,
hot dogs half eaten.
Lives ended on holiday

Red Moon Rising

Red moon rising
over stadium packed
with marching bands
resonates deeper
than sea of tubas.

Resilience

Twenty years after divorce
shattered her will to live,
Twelve years after she dared
brave new marriage, new career,
Three years after her oldest son
burned to death working on his car,
One year after she designed new
house to replace earthquake wreckage,
she mused "I think I have three more
fresh starts in me." She was seventy.

Underground

Underground roots reach
for water, stretch toward
center of spinning earth,
seek depth, support upward
reach of strong straight trunk,
canopy of leafed out branches.

Begin Again

Time to begin again,
to write each day,
to focus on kindness,
to focus, to center,
to write each day.
Time to begin again.

Lost

Virtuoso violinist played
Bach unannounced at subway stop.
Child felt pull, ran toward music.
Mother pulled him back, train to catch.
How much magic did I miss today?

Flashback

You bounce in your chair,
squeal He's on! He's on!.
What can I say to him?
He wrote to me! He asked
about my day! You are fifteen.
Internet flirtation brings joy.
You bounce in your chair.

September Eleventh

Ten years after
towers collapsed
fear and hate
still stand tall.

Passage

Some by fire and some by shadow,
Some by silence, some by fury,
Some in peace, some still screaming.
All die on death's terms.

Hardest Discipline

Hardest discipline is
to ratchet down anxiety
when world whirls by
demands high stakes,
decisions, leaves
loose ends frayed.
To rachet down anxiety
is hardest discipline.

Wind Change

Wind from the north
scatters haze,
shakes dusty leaves,
disperses heat,
stirs fires,
triggers evacuation.
Wind from the north
threatens, relieves.