Watermark

Poem-A-Day #29 & #30

   

#29 Prompt: fantastical

 

today is a day of sharp edges

red roof against bright sky

a fence’s iron arrows

pointing to infinity

 

nestled between

the flamingo’s pink wings

we flew

 

moon still pale

in the west

lending its color

to snow on blue mountains

 

we were children then

blond and rosey

with sun and dream

 

the sun’s arc

yellowing

the greening

of maple and birch

 

we are tumbling now

curled into our bodies

falling still falling

 

 

#30 Prompt: call it a day 

 

this budgie sings 

in his cage 

    & i in mine 

            poem after poem 

 

     

Poem-A-Day #28: settled

    

had it been on offer

i would have settled for less

cantaloupe on a white plate

a single-occupancy room

 

had it been on offer

the kindness of strangers

a single-occupancy room

the kiss of your mouth

 

the kindness of strangers

is a weight on the heart

the kiss of your mouth

mangos and lemons

 

is a weight on the heart

a blessing or curse

mangos and lemons

one narrow bed

 

a blessing or curse

an unanswered prayer

one narrow bed

a window that opens

 

an unanswered prayer

the sound of your voice

a window that opens

lilacs in spring

 

i would have settled for less

had it been on offer

the kiss of your mouth

had it been on offer

  

Poem-A-Day #26 & 27: water & monster

   

Day 26 prompt: water 

 

We make no graves today.

We scatter your ashes, and yours

on the water, on the high desert.

Let the wind take them

as the wind took you 

stealing flesh from your bones

until bones was all you were.

Bones. Ashes. Wind.

    

Day 27 prompt: monster

 

Crow’s feet

we call them.

Foreshadow

at the corner

of still-bright

eyes. Even

as children

we knew

it was there.

Waiting.

Under the bed.

    

    

 

 

 

Poem-A-Day #25: last straw

   

Why do we indict

    the last straw?

Surely the first

    should share the blame.

Splinter or crowbar,

    that first wound,

first blood, first warning of all

    that was to come;

the one forgotten,

    forgiven, ignored,

denied. That one

    and all those

that came between.

    The last snowflake

on the collapsing roof

    did not bring it down.

    

Poem-A-Day #24: Goodbye

    

Goodbye

 

I say goodbye, and goodbye again.

        The wind chimes sing,

naked branches dance. I smell snow

        in the air, and you so cold,

so distant, falling now through frigid

        sky like amnesia, goodbye

to all that, to weather and precise

        locations, they all tumble

together, tundra and meadow,

        mountain and lush green

valley, a confusion, a collage

        of memory and longing,

tamarisk, cedar, pine, spruce,  

        and all the birds, crying, calling,

migrating in choreographed clouds

        of wings, goodbye, goodbye.