Sunday, December 1, 2019

That time I walked in the October night

Walk in the dark
You can’t see your ground
You keep taking steps
But with knees slightly bent
Prepared to absorb
An unexpected jolt
From a dip or a bump
You can’t see the ground
The stars in their beauty
May draw your attention
The trees waving peacefully 
Make you relax
As you walk in the dark
Remember your knees
Be ready for impact
You can’t see the ground

Thursday, September 5, 2019


Shakespeare Out of Doors
To sit reading ancient poetry
On my leaf-pattered porch,
The wind glad swirling in the trees
Who welcome me with waves and dancing
(What better than to enjoy the trees’ goodwill),
I can tell to no one.
In solitude I have great company:
The bard brings tears and laughter.
My voice speaks his words;
His word my heart recites.
If this is how my fading life declines
I will let it slide,
Look old age full in the eyes
And find its pearl delights.

Saturday, August 24, 2019



Cathartes aura
Slow dancing in the sky above me
Hovering, soaring,
Astonishing, the beauty
They pulled the heart right out of me
And left me feebly standing
Left behind on the dismal earth. 
If you can’t weep
Walking through the woods
When can you weep. 

Monday, May 27, 2019

The Walk
I saw the brightness of the lichen after rain
On small trees growing in the woods. 
I saw a river of whitetail deer, silently 
Flowing across the path a quarter mile ahead.
I saw a pair of cavorting robins
Looping near the ground
Before they flew away to be alone together.
When I get home I pick twigs
From the upper branches of my hair.

Monday, April 1, 2019


Healed by trees
Healed by an owl
Healed by solitude,
Walks in the woods
And wine
Healed by sunlight through the leaf
Healed by deer, by snow,
By chickadees.
Healed by rare wild flowers growing. 
Healed by vines to tops of trees. 
Healed by stars and falling stars
Healed by full moon
Healed but scarred
And knowing that there will be griefs
And hoping for more healing trees. 

Tuesday, January 1, 2019


Do you write down the words
That you hear in your head
Do you read them later
Surprised what they said
Do the words take over
And fling themselves down
Til you forget your own children 
Because you are bound
By compulsion to write them
To write them all out
And later you’ll read them
What’s that all about
As if some other someone has taken you over
But you remain faithful, you heard word lover.