'twas the day after
flightless lawn reindeer join sad
deflated santas

季節

As the wind in the willows and the breeze through the trees
    sing the ending of summer and the memory of spring
all the leaves feel the weight of the world as they fall
    some too early in the season, others falling not at all.
For the staunch in the crowd who remain evergreen
    bodes the promise of a season they can play as they please;
With the whipping of wind and the bowing of branch
    comes the certain comfort knowledge that their leaves won't detach
with the coming of fall and the leaving of spring
    like so many fallen comrades whose deciduous leaves
see them barren and stark in the cold winter funk
    all alone but for squirrels who nest in their trunks.
But those strong tall and piney go soldiering on
    through the swinging of axes and singing of songs;
Past the turkey and gravy they stay much the same,
    always safe there in midair quite verdant and tame.
Once the bells have all rung and the new year's been sung
    and the greenery peeks through the blanket of snow,
lasting verdancy pales in the light of the dales
    fresh and new with their blanket of blossoms and dew.

Ever green are they now, but the blossoming bough
holds more beauty in part due to feelings of heart
made more painfully clear when the coming of year
fills the cycle of death and rebirth with such mirth
that the dry brittle bones crunching milk tea and scones
seem to only enhance the new thrill of the chance
that this beautiful bloom will be evergreen too.

one-track-mind squirrels
how very focused they are
burying their nuts

Red berries, brown leaves
Mulch pockmarked by nuts ensconced
Safe for the winter

oh, to simply be

at peace within one's own mind;

so calm, yet so bored

we all sit silent
awaiting the news which comes
always too quickly

十

in Central Park my loves combine
where claymade form and grass entwine
to scupt a golem tall and fair
with sprightly wit and knightly air
to sweep me off my weary feet
and whisk me to the stars at night
where flights of fancy find a seat
amidst the lands of giants' might
where suns and moons swirl unattended
whisper sweetly all is mended
while we both but slumber here
amidst the whirling twirling spheres
we lay suspended sighing so
ignorant of the beast below
the beast within who drives our sight
to fly among the stars at night
with not a word I step aboard
and leave this world of mine behind
I'd give up all I can afford
to fly with you through space and time

passing by fields, earth
seeping in slowly, uplifting
my vegetable soul

idly ladling
limp-noodled I lay listless
lamenting the loss

Persimmon shadows
chase lazy lavender clouds
off the horizon

Moiling eddies twist and twirl

in winds of opportunity;
I do my best to hold on tight
and grin delight into the breeze

"Excuse me mister,
Are you the one they call Jack?"
He reached for his gun;
As he answered me slowly,
His moustache gleamed in the light

蒲公英

Residing liminal 'twixt fast and slow
Faint flourishing where man-made meets the street
Sporadic sprays of yellow ebb and flow
A creeping weed has never looked so sweet.
Beset by eager workers, formed and set
Your beauty goes unnoticed, trowl'd and sprayed
By wands and gallon jugs and hydric jet
With human chemicals, your flourish fades;
Betrayed and trodden, senza voce, seethe
Oh how I'd eat your blossoms, drink your leaves

O dandelion!
Spring weeds pucker in the sun
A creeping beauty

Cut grass wafts thickly
Once free of winter's shivers
The shearing begins

Awake at long last
Pink blossoms hang heavily
Sagging with the rain

[01/04/11]

Through cloudy portholes
three miles high, a whisper:
What life lies beneath
the rolling folds of nimbus?

I glimpse a city
by the sea; spark'ling waters
yield to whittled steel,
each light a shining beacon
of prosperity.

Night comes; I glimpse another
rather like the first
but larger; Buxom and brash,
she roils in sequin'd
highways, clad in gold,
the spill from streetlamps clamors
for a taste. And yet
some highways shuttle slowly,
shifting shadows 'neath
the lamplight's golden fountains.

Hungry, ties and suits
meander down this city's
streets; her highways full,
bored by now by their being.
On and off they go;
exit ramps are silly straws
siphoning slowly homeward.